Healthy Relationships in a Teenager's Life
(The paragraphs below will:
- Purpose strategies on building and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships.
- Describe skills for avoiding or responding to unhealthy, abusive relationships.
- Describe effective and appropriate responses to bullying, discrimination, harassment and intimidation.)
Healthy relationships are needed for a prosperous life. In the modern world, relationships have become diverse; they now come in all shapes and sizes. Resulting, one may lose understanding of the varied differences, causes, and effects originating from healthy and unhealthy relationships. Fundamentally, however: “Healthy relationships should allow for both partners to feel supported and connected but still feel independent. Ultimately, the two people in the relationship will decide what is healthy for them and what is not” - as stated by "The National Domestic Violence Association USA." Healthy relationships are needed to achieve bliss while helping to provide support and compassion from the ones you trust. A healthy relationship is based on three factors. Firstly, it must be built on respect, communication, and valued boundaries. Secondly, you must evade relationships with abuse, harassment, and intimidation. Thirdly, you must look for people that hold similar values when starting a relationship. These should not be limited to only your friends, family or classmates; instead, it should extend beyond them. Try to arouse new relationships with all you meet.
Our minds are programmed to find healthy relationships because they are like the scorching suns in our hearts; they provide us the fire to power our spirit and keeps us alive. They support us, help build our self-esteem, provide mental aid, lower stress while combating depression. For me, healthy relationships have been the strongest death-defying power I have experienced. They have provided me with effective cures for escaping negative situations. Moreover, these relationships have not only prevented me from feeling clueless and inadequate but have comforted, supported and guided me through tough times. They have inspired me to new heights in my life and has turned it into an exciting journey. I am blessed to have experienced the brilliance, love, and loyalty from the others in my relationships. These bonds have been the indestructible rope that pulls me out of bottomless holes filled with despair while permitting me to live in the moment.
Respect and communication. They are the two fundamentals for a healthy relationship. In terms of respect, many only focus on how much of it one should get from their partner. However, respect has a giving component as well. To make it easier for others to respect you, always be a man/woman of your word and act honorably. Never break promises or lie as that will only weaken trust and decrease respect in a relationship. If you were to ever meet a problem, remember the art of effective communication. Cautiously approach the issue instead of launching grenades filled with hateful messages in a verbal war. Never utilize aggressive body language or resort to name calling. Moreover, reconsider your actions before acting. This will allow for you and your partner to better understand each other instead of you each yelling your necks off. To speak appropriately, always relax your listener and organize your ideas. When speaking: be clear, stay on topic, enunciate clearly and use positive body language. On the other hand, when listening, pay attention, look the speaker in the eye and be in the moment with all of your senses. Remember to appear excited and to keep an open mind. Productive communication and perceptible respect will help in building a healthy relationship.
As important as building healthy relationships are, it is vital to steer clear of unhealthy relationships. Signs of such relationships will include abuse, intimidation, harassment, and bullying. If you are a victim of such an association and wishes to cope, you must learn to differentiate healthy negative emotions and unhealthy ones. While unhealthy feelings will make you feel as if you are in a terrible situation, healthy ones are appropriate. Healthy negative emotions will bring forth manageable feelings – frustration, disappointment, and sadness. However, if negativity from your partner persists for an extensive period of time, you will need to escape. In this relationship, if you are a victim of bullying, remember that the allegations made are false and is only a sign of the speaker’s own weakness. Moreover, remember not to engage, as frankly, it will only make matters worse. Additionally, know that you are not alone when dealing with this issue. A study composed by Stanford University in 2014 showed that 1 out of 12 children above the age of 10 has experienced unhealthy relationships, 11% of children have experienced repeated bullying while 3.2 million students are harassed each day in the USA. If you feel discriminated, firstly coordinate with others and then lecture the other party to appreciate diversity. Remind him/her that they must respect you in the same way they wish to be valued themselves. On the other hand, when facing harassment and intimidation, confront others after building up your courage. Look them straight in the eye, use rough vocal tones, have tensed shoulders and a memorized defying sentence to express. Only voice things that communicate your frustration, but do not say things that escalate the issue. Nevertheless, if such a confrontation is to fail, understand that one attempt may not be enough. Aim for success by trying again with additional help. Statistics from “Psychology Today” showed that 73% of people who attempted to combat their unhealthy relationships multiple times had success when dealing with their relationship.
After escaping unhealthy relationships, finding connections to others around you that share similar values are key. Values are the rules of your life. They are a fundamental part of who you are and will be consistent through your mind. Given that when your values are honored, you feel good. Henceforth, when they are insulted, you feel scorching pain throughout your body. Accordingly, you can infer that a lack of shared values will cause numerous arguments and frustrations that will abolish any relationship. That is to say with shared values, the decisions you make as a group will be mutual. Make sure that your partner knows that you respect his/her values. After doing this, you will form a deeper connection in your relationship. This will not only enhance your enjoyment of each other's company, but it will construct a foundation of interest you can lean on in the future. Further, make sure that you are both on the same page and that you both respect each other’s differences. Most importantly, provide the space for your partner to be who they truly are or your relationship will turn into a dull one.
Although you may feel like withdrawing from social situations when going through stressful situations in life, know that isolation is fatal. From my personal life, I have found that sharing concerns and feelings helps one to deal with complications. Thus, from my personal perspective, I believe that healthy relationships are extremely important if you wish to have a prosperous and happy life. Connecting to my personal life, I have found for healthy relationships to help me deal with stress, allow me to be healthier while feeling fuller inside. I believe that all must try their hardest to look for healthy relationships. Throughout my whole life, I have found that unhealthy relationships led me to depression, sadness and decreased immune function.
To conclude, you must remember that healthy relationships are paramount for a prosperous life. Such relationships will extend not only into your future career but also into your social life. In spite of this, know that the journey to obtaining healthy relationships will be hard. Sometimes, you will feel powerless even when you did the best you could. In the end, you have to realize that sometimes, relationships do not give you a happy ending. However, even if there is no easy answer, you cannot stop fighting for the best one available. You must pray for a different result, an unexpected answer. It is your job to embark on a journey to find the best thing. Do the right thing, even if it costs you something, even if it costs you everything. Do what you need to do if you wish to form healthy relationships.
Bibliography (Sources Used)
1. http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/healthy-relationships/, What is a healthy relationship?, The National Domestic Violence Hotline, Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 5, 2016.
2. http://www.loveisrespect.org/healthy-relationships/, Healthy Relationships, Love is Respect, Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 6, 2016. 3. http://teenshealth.org/en/teens/healthy-relationship.html, Am I in a healthy Relationship? Teen's Health, Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 7, 2016.
4. http://www.redcross.ca/how-we-help/violence--bullying-and-abuse-prevention/youth/healthy-relationship-tips, Canadian Red Cross, Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 7, 2016.
5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/getting-back-out-there/201508/getting-out-the-abusive-relationship, Getting out of the Abusive Relationship, Written By: Susan J Elliot, Written on August 12, 2015, Date Retrieved: April 4, 2016.
6. http://au.reachout.com/signs-of-an-abusive-relationship, Signs of an abusive Relationship, Author not found, Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 4, 2016.
7. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/fight-against-discrimination/, Learning to live together, Author/Date Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 5, 2016.
8. http://bullyonline.org/old/schoolbully/tackle.htm, How to combat child bullying and fight bullying at school, Author and Date of Written not found, Date Retrieved: April 6, 2016.
