Give Your Teen Tools to Combat Peer Pressure - Neuro Tip

As a teenager the impact of peers is one of the most powerful influences on an individuals life. It often impacts how a teenager acts and what they do in the present and also impacts who they become and what they choose to do in the future.

The first step is having good quality peers. You become like who you hang around, so hanging around quality people is the first step. 

However, unless you keep your teenager in a box they will have peer pressure beyond their immediate circle and no matter how great their friends are there will be times their friends have different views and opinions.

Giving your teen tools to feel confident in any circumstance and be strong enough to not be a people pleaser and do the right thing is important. However, the deeper goal is to help a teen know so clearly the person they are becoming and the path they are on that their brain automates doing what they know is right WITHOUT THE INNER TURMOIL OF A PEOPLE PLEASER OR OVER ANALYZER after the encounter has happened. 

What I'm talking about here is giving your teen tools so that when conflict arises with friends they can emotionally stay calm so they can handle the situation logically and then move on from it with peace. 

A couple things:

• If our emotions are not aligned with the person we want to become there will be massive friction in a situation where we are going against the norm (because that triggers "not safe" in the brain). Massive friction that is unhandled leads to a lack of clarity which makes it difficult to handle a situation.
• If we our not clear about the person we are becoming it can lead to over analyzing in a situation after someone stands up against the norm. This can be just as taunting as standing up in the first place. 

The goal is to give teens the tools to handle situations and move on with clarity not guilt, over analyzing or defeat.

We also get to teach our teens that we are all on a journey of growth and a situation that they feel they didn't handle well is not a defeat, it's a learning opportunity.

In a Neuro Coaching setting teens can quickly rewire their brains to automate and fire new thoughts and emotions that support the person they want to become as long as they are willing to lean in and trust the process.