![\"Teen](\"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/dear-carol-stressed.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dear Carol,<\/strong><\/p>\n At first, I thought being a teen would be <\/span><\/strong>exciting with more freedom and my own <\/span><\/strong>phone, but it\u2019s not what I expected. Bullies <\/span><\/strong>are way worse, and I\u2019m afraid to stand up <\/span><\/strong>for myself. I\u2019m so worried about puberty <\/span><\/strong>that I had a nightmare. My parents are <\/span><\/strong>getting divorced, and I feel like my family <\/span><\/strong>and friendships are falling apart. I\u2019m losing <\/span><\/strong>confidence, I\u2019m terribly stressed and feel <\/span><\/strong>like I have nobody to talk to.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>How can I get <\/span><\/strong>through this?<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n – Teen Blues<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear Teen Blues,<\/p>\n Being a new teen can be exciting, and I hope <\/span>you can learn to stand up for yourself (it <\/span>will feel great, you\u2019ll see) and to stop fearing <\/span>puberty (every grown woman has gotten <\/span>through it). But I\u2019m so sorry your parents <\/span>are getting divorced. No wonder things feel <\/span>stressful. Things may work out well in the <\/span>long run (quality time with both parents and <\/span>less fighting at home), but I get that this <\/span>giant change feels painful and overwhelming<\/span>. Think again about who might be able <\/span>to help. A counselor at school or elsewhere? <\/span>A classmate who has survived her parents\u2019 <\/span>breakup? A loving aunt or grandparent or trusted neighbor or friend\u2019s parent? Hang in there and be patient with yourself, too. If Thanksgiving is fraught, it\u2019s not because you\u2019re a mess\u2014it\u2019s because you are going through a messy time. As for bullies, if it\u2019s really serious, I hope you can talk to a caring adult about what\u2019s going on. But in a lot of cases, if you can ignore them, they\u2019ll ignore you back. And ask yourself why they are acting\u00a0so lame and moronic. I mean, if someone feels proud of herself, she doesn\u2019t set out to hurt others. Soon you\u2019ll figure out bras and tampons and be ready to enjoy your new independence. Keep doing well in school, too, because good grades can provide a confidence boost and open doors to a wider, brighter future.<\/span><\/p>\n Carol Weston is the author of 16 books, including\u00a0Girltalk<\/em>,\u00a0Speed of Life<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Ava and Pip<\/em>. Follow her on Insta\u00a0@carolwestonnyc<\/a>\u00a0and visit\u00a0carolweston.com.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more Dear Carol advice here:<\/strong> Dear Carol, At first, I thought being a teen would be exciting with more freedom and my own phone, but it\u2019s not what I expected. Bullies are way worse, and I\u2019m afraid to stand up for myself. I\u2019m so worried about puberty that I had a nightmare. My parents are getting divorced, and I feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2399,"featured_media":310258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283,284,277,313,61297],"tags":[48,42,3874,231,279,285,51,156,2222,151],"class_list":["post-309555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-dear-carol","category-health","category-tough-stuff","category-wellness","tag-advice","tag-dear-carol","tag-dear-carol-advice","tag-get-inspired","tag-health","tag-life","tag-life-advice","tag-mental-health","tag-stress","tag-wellness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlslife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\ud83c\udf80 “Dear Carol, Is it normal to feel insecure?<\/a><\/strong>
\n\ud83c\udf80 “Dear Carol, How do I stop sweating so much?”<\/a><\/strong>
\n\ud83c\udf80 “Dear Carol, I think my friends are hiding something from me”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"