“One in four British girls are hit by depression at 14.”  How does that make you feel? As a teenager myself, it makes me feel scared, worried and makes me ask ‘why?’ How can I prevent it?

Well, you know what. I want you to smile right now. How does that make you feel right now? It makes me feel good to see myself and others smile. I think teenagers sometimes just need a boost of motivation, happiness and confidence. In today’s article, I will give you some advice and tips according to my own experience and research about how to keep positive, increase confidence and just be happy. Before I get started, remember that these tips can be hard to follow in the beginning but through practice and initiative, you can get there. You can be the happiest person alive.

Smile – Smiling and laughter is the medicine for any pain. It gives you instant recovery and relief. Even a fake smile can make your day.

Don’t compare yourself to anyone – Everyday, teenagers compare themselves to the photoshopped celebrities, friends, models, cousins or even siblings to the point that it makes them break down. Look in the mirror and embrace yourself because you are beautiful.

Meditate/reflect upon yourself – Set aside some time each day to pray to God, meditate or just say positive affirmations to yourself such as ‘I am amazing’.

Do things that you love – This could be cooking, singing, dancing, walking in the park, cuddling up to your pet, anything that makes you happy.

Spend time with people you love and support you – There’s no point of spending your precious time with people who will discourage and bring you down. Try to spend more time with people who will make you laugh like your parents, siblings or your best friends.

Eliminate toxic people – According to studies shown, we spend 80% of the time thinking about 20% of the people we stay with. If you are thinking about people who will belittle you and make you feel insecure about what you are thinking, it is time to leave those friends for good. This may be tough but it will be for your good.

Don’t care about what other people think of you – It is hard to do this when we are surrounded by people all the time. An important step to take and think about is if you yourself are judging others.

Ignore popularity  – You don’t become popular by swearing or backbiting, you become popular by being kind and having a sweet personality. If you do see popularity that is by swearing and acting rudely towards others, that is only short-term.

Don’t bottle up your feelings – It may be hard to confess or speak out your emotions but it is important to share your feelings with a trusted adult or person. Tell your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles about anything that you are concerned about. I’m sure they are there to help you.

Ask yourself ‘does it really matter?’ – Whatever you are thinking about right now that is causing you to become upset, just stop and ask yourself if it really matters. Half of the time we worry about things we can’t control or actually doesn’t matter to us.

Understand that you can have low days – It is fine to have low days. You can’t always be happy and you have to understand that. Sometimes, we are sad because we are tired.

Did this article make you smile or at least make you feel 1% better? I hope so. Just remember that there is always hope and if you need any professional medical help, don’t feel afraid to get it. You have support, trust me.

Please check out my other articles:

http://surobiscribbles.com/how-to-prepare-for-eid-ul-fitr-my-ramadan-series/

http://surobiscribbles.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-teenagers-by-sean-covey-honest-book-review/

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!

Step 1: Make the intention that you really want to remove the addiction of social media.  

First of all, you must have the right intention that you really want to do this, and not just stop this procedure halfway. Write down in a piece of a paper that you want to remove this addiction of social media for the rest of your life. Sign it and stick it up or put it as your lock screen wallpaper in your phone.

Step 2: Realise the cons of being addicted to social media.

Write down a list of changes you have seen in yourself since the start of being addicted to social media. Be completely honest. This can make you feel a bit bad at first, but it will encourage you to carry on with this procedure and you will feel determined to carry on. 

Step 3: Give yourself a challenge that you want to stop using social media for a particular amount of time.

This step depends on your decision. You now have to pick how long you want to completely go off social media. It can be for a week, 2 weeks or a month. Again, write this down in a piece of paper.

Step 4: Write a list of all the social media you are addicted to.

This is a crucial step as you may only be addicted to some social medias, not all of them. For instance, you may have Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Tumblr on your phone but you may only be addicted to Instagram and Twitter. Therefore, write down the main social media you are actually using as you want to focus on that only.

Step 5: Tell in social media you are logging out.

It is finally time to really do the main action. Post a story or text all your friends that you will be logging out of social media for a certain amount of time, which you have already decided earlier on. You may get different reactions, but your true friends are the ones who will support you and help you accomplish this aim. 

Step 6: Log out of your social media or just hand your phone to someone.

It is time to do the thing we have all been waiting for, and the reason you have been reading this article. Don’t wait any further – just log out of your social media. If you want to take this an extra step further, you can also hand your phone to someone else, to avoid breaking this challenge in the first few hours or days.

Step 7: Give yourself a reward after completing each of them.

For example, if you give yourself a 1 week challenge to stop using Instagram, give yourself a small piece of chocolate after each day of accomplishing it. It will help you to look forward to the reward and keep focused on your challenge.

Step 8: Find hobbies or things that replace your social media time.

If you were addicted to social media, you would spend hours on that app everyday. But now that it’s gone, you have all this free time in your hands. In order to keep engaged, find things to do while you are not using the app like learning an instrument, doing some extra revision, or playing a sport. This will make you feel as if you are not missing out on anything.

Step 9: Only choose one social media.

After you have finished your challenge (hopefully successfully!) you can carry on your life without social media or you can restrict yourself to only one social media. This means deleting all your other social medias and keeping just one whic you think is the most convenient. Remember not to install other social medias.

Step 10: Have a time limit of using that particular social media.

To ensure that you won’t get addicted with that one app you have chose, have a time limit of using it every day. For example, I might have Snapchat, but I can only use it for 15 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. Keep a timer every time you go on the app. This is hopefully how you will remain conscious of your social media intake.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and I hope it helps you. Use this procedure to your own risk and hopefully one day you will be able to tackle this. Please share it with your family and friends if it does help.  Also, check out my other articles and poetry:

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!