The Strength Maker

Most people know that having friends adds spice to life. Do you know how to make friends? Do you know how to keep them? Experiences with friends add value to life.  Everyone knows that kids and teens have suffered quite a bit during the pandemic. You have lost days of school and plenty of social experiences, not to mention family and economic hardships that you have had to endure on top of that.  In an online interview in March, Laura Offutt, MD talked about some of these challenges. She pointed out the magnitude of the loss of socialization among teens because resilience--the exact skill that is required to survive challenging times such as these--is built on social experiences.  One thing that I do want people to really think about is that resilience is not just an individual activity. So while it's absolutely true that overcoming hardship and coming through traumatic times is something that builds your resiliency bank, resilience is also contributed to by the social s...

This is a journey for those who face being in the middle, but who want to face it with resilience, power, and optimism. Make middle school a great experience. You've been waiting for this day--the one where you leave the kids at the elementary school and go to the bigger and better things found in a middle school. Lockers, a bigger building, a variety of classes, and new friends are among the things you get excited about.  You've probably heard a lot about some of the negative things in middle school too, though--how awkward it is, how stressful it can be, and how complicated life becomes once you begin to take more responsibility for yourself.  There are always these two ways to look at life: the positive and the negative. This blog will acknowledge the negative right along with you, but it will then do it's best to help you focus on the positive. If you can do that, you have the superpower you need to make it through middle school alive, and to even enjoy the experience a...