When my girls were small, they used to fall sick very often. Almost every month they had to be given antibiotics. I wasn’t left with any option but from inside I cringed. They were premature twins and their immunity was very weak. Doctor asked me to keep them at home for the next year. We were but we could stop anyone from coming. They were so weak that even if I took them out for a stroll they came back with some infection. My brother used to say, take them out, expose them or they won’t build their immunity. As a concerned mother, I started. I started taking them out, letting them play in the mud, take walk in the sun with their tiny steps, and feeding them a lot of healthy fruits and crushed dry fruits. Hola, in a few months they picked up. I learned that we build our strength by exposing ourselves and fighting not by hiding.
When we do a lot of mental exercises, we build mental strength. Let’s say, we challenge our mind and it becomes better and sharper.
Now, whenever some teen issue is being discussed about anxiety, rage, depression, etc, I always realize that they have not been exposed to emotional issues so they did not get an opportunity to fight and become strong. They were protected. Someone shielded their mistakes. If they had an emotional issue, someone else apologized and they did not get a chance to solve things emotionally inside themselves. They did not get the opportunity to actually feel others’ pain. They did not go through that pain. So what shall we do? Let them handle it. Support them in handling it not doing it for themselves. Guide them, ask questions like how you feel, what you think is right, what shall be done, etc and let them learn.
In today’s environment, when people have been falling sick so frequently, I feel we all have to take care of our well-being at all levels. We need to stay strong emotionally, mentally, physically and then we can fight of anything.
