How to Survive Your Teenage Years (Girls)

Being a teenage girl isn't the easiest thing in the world. Some people treat you like a little girl, some people load you with responsibilities you don't feel ready for. You might be having mood swings as your body changes. The things in life you used to think were important might not matter anymore and things you didn't have to worry about are on your mind constantly. Survival rates are high for teenage girls around the world, which is good news! Read this article to find out how you can survive and avoid some of the main causes of death for girls in your age group.

Steps

1
Have good hygiene. Now that you are a teenage girl, you must take care of your hygiene. Many teenage girls worry about being smelly and you might get picked on. It's also good for your health to be clean, little cuts or scraps can get infected and make you ill; if you are clean, there is less chance of this. Washing your hands before eating can help you not get ill too.
- Wear deodorant or antiperspirant every day and have some with you to put on as needed. Wear perfume or body spray or something else with a nice smell if you like. Smelling good can make you feel good. Shower, wash, or bath every day and wash your hair as required.
- You may also be starting your period at this time, so be sure that you pack supplies in every bag, no matter what time of the month it is, in case you get a surprise. Even if you don't have your period yet, have some supplies with you.
Sleep is really important when your body is doing all the changes it does to change you from a child to an adult. Your brain needs sleep to work properly too. Not enough sleep can affect your mood and your physical wellbeing. You may be reluctant to go to bed early, but try to a couple of times a week at least, especially on school nights. You might have heaps of things to do every day, school, chores, homework, after school clubs and sports, etc. After you've done all that, you'll probably still want to stay up and watch TV, check out YouTube videos or catch up with your friends on Snapchat - try to set yourself a half-hour limit for this, then get some sleep. If possible, don't use your device for an hour before bed. Read or listen to restful music instead.
Advertisement
3
Eat healthily. Not many teenage girls die from malnutrition. However, not eating all the nutrients your developing body needs may affect your health. As a teenage girl, you might be worried about your body shape, how ethical what you eat is, or you might just hardly have time to eat with everything that's going on in your life.
- If you want to be vegetarian or vegan, that's your choice and you should do if you want to. Read about healthy vegan or vegetarian diets for teenage girls so know how to stay healthy. Try to eat breakfast every day and eat five or six portions of vegetables and fruit every day. #*You might feel hungrier than you did when you were younger - it's normal! You're not greedy! Obesity is becoming a problem for all kinds of people all over the world and it can lead to fatal conditions. If you don't eat when you are bored, and drink water when you're thirsty instead of soda, pop or juice, you'll be doing yourself a big favor.
4
Focus on your schoolwork. There's no such thing as being "too cool for school". You must pass your classes. If you hate school, then look at it like this: why would you spend three years in 7th grade when you could be done with school quicker? If you don't get the grades you need in school to go for the career you want, you'll regret it when you are older - you might even have to go back to school as an adult! Poverty is not good for your health, so work hard at school to give yourself a healthy future.
- Doing a job you hate because you didn't have the qualification you needed for a job you wished for, is worse than school.
It's good for your mental health to be kind to other people and even animals. As a teenage girl, you may want to start volunteering. Knowing how to help others can help you help yourself. Having people you respect to talk to is good for you. The more people you can talk to about anything that's worrying you the better so be kind to people so they are kind to you.
6
Communicate with people you trust. Let your family and friends in. Don't be secretive. When you're open with your parents, you tend to get more freedom. With your friends, not being secretive will show that they can trust you and they will think of you as a better friend. Friends should never ask you to keep a secret that makes you uncomfortable. Having your secrets is okay, as long as no one is being hurt.
- Of course, it is fine to keep it a secret who you have a crush on. But, you should tell someone if you've got a secret that worries you, especially if it's about your health or about someone older than you who has told you to keep things secret. Even if you've been threatened about what will happen if you tell someone about something that's going on, you should tell.
Caffeine makes you hyper and jittery, which is a false sensation of energy, but it's bad for your body and will most likely only make you more tired. A little caffeine now and then is okay, but don't overdo it. It's not just coffee that has caffeine in. Go easy on the cola, tea, chocolate, and most of all energy drinks.
Say "please", "thank you", "you're welcome", and "may I". Listen to directions and if your parents say no, be sure to think about it thoroughly. #*Don't pretend to go to a friend's house but go to the party they said you couldn't go to. Having the trust of your parent can help you stay alive - that sounds dramatic, but if you are the type of teenage girl always in trouble with their folks and running off and stuff, if anything really scary happens to you, people won't start trying to help you as quickly as if you are where you say you'll be and do as you are told.
9
Keep your bedroom and living space clean and organized. It builds stress when you're digging around trying to find things and stress is not healthy! If your room is neat and tidy, your parents will give you less hassle about it. It makes sense to keep the little bit of the world you have complete control over-organized. You are less likely to lose things and break things in a tidy room.
- If you have to share a room with a younger sibling, now that you are a teenage girl, it might be a good idea to be the responsible one and clean up their mess and yours, even if it seems unfair.
Drama is common in the teenage years. Sometimes, it may be unavoidable, but try your best not to associate with those who tend to create drama. Drama can be online or in real life and can have nasty consequences. Sharing images online, gossiping, excluding people from groups, mean spirited pranks, "cheating" - these are all things that can get out of hand. Think hard about getting involved with things that other people could be hurt by, try to think forward to what could happen down the line. Things that start as a joke can upset people over time.
Warning:If something awful happened to someone you'd played a joke on, you'd feel bad about it for the rest of your life.
Sit down with a parent and discuss a good curfew, bedtime, and waking time, as well as what a good age for you to begin dating is. Everyone worries about doing the right thing. If you and your folks don't agree on what you should do in regular situations, like when you should come home or where you can hang out, it'll be harder for you to decide what to do in other situations. Take the worry out of it by just agreeing to be home at a set time and sticking to the rules you've worked out.
12
Be aware of what drugs and alcohol can do to your health. You might get offered alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, or "legal highs" when you hit your teenage years. Don't be pressured into taking anything. You could have an allergic reaction and become ill. You could lose control of yourself and do anything from something silly and embarrassing to something dangerous.
- This could start you on the path to addiction, addicts are often also criminals - why head down that path? The thing about harmful substances is anything could happen. What if you are at a party and the police come in to arrest everyone who has drugs in their hand? You might have been just about to give it back and not have taken anything, but you'll still have an arrest on your record. What if you go unconscious and someone hurts you? It's scary, but worst-case scenarios should be in your mind when you get offered anything harmful.
Lots of teenage girls die from the craziest, silliest accidents. Having everyone say you are boring because you don't want to run over the railway lines is better than getting hit by a train. Joyriding is very dangerous. Don't get rides or lifts from boys driving cars they don't own, demand to get out if they drive fast or dangerously and wear your seat belt. All vehicles are potentially dangerous, don't share a moped if the person riding it hasn't got a license, be careful on your bike or scooter. Be careful when you're at the pool or beach, drowning happens to all sorts of people.
14
Stand up for yourself; don't get into fights, but tell someone you trust if someone else hurts you. No one has the right to hurt you. Don't tolerate your boyfriend lashing out at you, even if he promises to never do it again and you are really in love with him.
- You's too old at 13-16 for spanking and hard as it may be, you need to tell a teacher or another adult authority if your parents beat you - this includes step-parents and grandparents. You may be afraid of what will happen to younger siblings if your parents get into trouble for beating you. But, you don't deserve to be physically punished, so speak up!
15
Be safe around your home. Phone chargers, hair straighteners, scented candles, clothes irons, late-night decisions to make toast, etc can all lead to fires. Unplug your electrical items when you are not using them and stay in the kitchen while you're cooking.
16
Ask for medical advice if you think you need it. Teenage cancer happens and there are medical conditions that don't show up till around this age. Don't ignore changes to your body or how it is working, even if you think the embarrassment is going to kill you rather than what might be wrong! Lots of bruises you don't know how you got should be checked out. Frequent headaches, being tired all the time, eating lots but not putting on weight, eating little but still getting heavier, aches and pains in your limbs or tummy that won't go away, etc. should all be looked into.
- These could all be nothing, but better safe than sorry. It's a good idea to ask if anyone in your family has or had the same symptoms, some illnesses may run in families.
17
Get help if you feel suicidal. If you find yourself thinking about hurting yourself, killing your self, or about how you could kill yourself, tell a trusted adult. You don't have to go into why you're having these thoughts, but you must let someone know you feel this way.
Advertisement

Expert Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Tips

If you are particularly stressed, a good way to relieve the stress is by taking a hot shower or bath.
Thanks
Helpful0 Not Helpful0
If you feel yourself getting particularly angry, the best thing to do is just walk away. If someone comes up and asks why you walked away, simply tell them "I was getting angry and I needed to walk away".
Thanks
Helpful0 Not Helpful0