Youth and lonely

The physical and emotional transition between childhood and adult is a challenging one for most of our young people (between 12 and 24 years of age). In developing, each individual draws on their childhood experiences and forms the skills that will take them into adulthood. This process of developing brings about a significant amount of instability for adolescents – changing schools, physiological changes, and social changes.

For you, as one of our youths, you are also going through an exciting time of cognitive change – where you are transitioning from concrete thinking to being able to use more complex thinking. You can begin to make better personal decisions, to question authority and society standards, and to form your own opinions. As you consider more about others you form your own ethical standards and you can start considering your role in adult society.

Where we have empathy for you though is knowing how emotionally difficult it is to experience some of the changes…. what should be positive often turns negative. You might be noticing that some of your friends are changing at a different pace from you – whether ahead or behind sometimes it’s not as easy to identify with each other as it used to be! And we also appreciate even with those very well meaning parents, and caregivers, you face challenges; some aren’t skilled enough to help you through your changes. And sometimes, where you haven’t developed the skills of handling conflict well yourself, they misunderstand you.

All this, and often lacking the choices you have to change aspects of your life, brings additional new change… in the form of feeling less belonging, less connectedness… and more loneliness.

So if you are one of the many people who feels lonely as a result of being a youth, or you know of someone who feels loneliness from this, then read on. In fact even if you suspect others might be lonely, and they stoically say they aren’t, it’s worth understanding loneliness and life as a young person better.