Being a Teenage Girl SUCKS!

Being a Teenage Girl SUCKS!

“Go away! ?We don’t like you anymore!”

Scariest words a 12-year-old girl can EVER hear from her girl group.

Friends are EVERYTHING when you are a tween.

?????? ?More important than your parents.

?? More important than your favourite pair of brand new Levi ripped jeans.

?? More important than getting front row tickets to the WHAM! concert

(ya, I dated myself a bit there LOL).

When you are kicked out of your friend group it is social suicide ??

Or, at least for me, that’s what it felt like.

From grade 3 - grade 8, this was my life.

Bullied by the Mean Girls.

Never knowing if I would have friends when I arrived at school or if I would be eating alone in front of everyone (who, of course, would TOTALLY see that I was eating alone!)

My self-esteem took a HUGE hit ??

My self-worth was in the toilet ??

My self-confidence was on vacation ??

And I felt like a nobody ??

Like I wasn’t good enough to be part of the “cool crowd”.

Like I had done something “wrong” just by being myself.

Have you ever felt that way???

I walked around on eggshells for 6 years!

Yes, you got that right…6 YEARS!

And man, did that impact me for WAY more years than that!

We’re talking DECADES! ??

DECADES of playing small and being afraid of standing out too much. ?

The judgement and rejection that I would bet my first born on would happen would be WAY too much to handle.

DECADES of making “safe” decisions.

If I played “safe”, people wouldn’t notice me - nor would I be invited into the cool adult groups that I felt 100% certain would one day kick me out anyway because I didn’t “fit in”…so why bother trying to get in with the “cool” crowd again only to end up rejected.

Better to just bypass that humiliation right from the start!

DECADES of zero boundaries around how I deserved to be treated.

Which really meant I was a chronic people-pleaser and always put my needs at the bottom of the pile, under the dirty sox and underwear.

+ DECADES of unrecognized GRIEF

Yes, Grief!

The grief of losing “friendships” over & over & over again.

The grief over losing a sense of belonging.

The grief of losing me.

So, ya, grief.

??????

So WHY, dear reader, do I share all of this with you??

It was in healing my own grief that I realized just how much this experience in my tween & teenage years had impacted my entire LIFE!

And it was through coaching other incredible women through their grief journeys that I realized I was not alone in my traumatic teenage experience.

SOOOO many women had had their self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence trampled on and annihilated during their teen years - either by friends or family or both - ?leaving a permanent, damaging scar and causing them to feel unworthy, less than…not enough.

Leaving them healing THEIR unrecognized teenage grief with me…decades later.

And now??

I HAVE a teenage daughter and have watched her go through some similar experiences (absolutely heartbreaking ??).

I have friends who have teenage daughters who are going through similar experiences.

And I don’t want my daughter - or yours - to have to wait DECADES to figure out who she is, to stand in her power, and to be herself - unapologetically, fiercely, & confidently.

So, in 2023, my colleague, Lea Moffatt, and myself, Co-Foundedb“Unshakeable ME! Inc.” camps and programs for teenage girls (12 - 16 years).

OUR MISSION:

Inspiring teenage girls to know their worth, make friends with their emotions and create tools to support themselves as they grow so that they can feel empowered to show up confidently as their unshakeable selves.

The girls that have attended our camps have become more confident in themselves, have learned how to look inwards for validation - rather than relying on the mean girls of the world to tell them who they are - and have created new friendships just by being themselves.

It has been magical and so incredible to watch them bloom and step into their power.

To watch them come out of hiding & feel safe to truly be themselves.

To laugh and have fun and be silly.

I WISH I had had something like this when I was a kid.

Oh, what a difference it could have made.

???

If you have a teenage daughter, or know of another teen girl, who would love to come to camp and who could truly benefit from all that we offer, we have a

March Break Camp happening:

March 10 - 12

Souls Path Retreats

Blackstock, Ontario

You can find the details below ??

PLUS, we have EARLY BIRD Registration for Summer Camp happening NOW:

Almonte/Pakenham: July 14 - 18

Blackstock: August 11 - 15

https://www.unshakeable-me.com/register-2/

Giving our daughters the practical tools to help support themselves emotionally as they navigate their teen years and beyond is critical in bolstering their self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence.

AND in decreasing the amount of grief they will need to heal as they get older.

YOU and your daughters are worth it!

M. xo

P.S. If you are struggling to heal from teenage grief (especially if you didn’t even realize this is a thing), I am here to support you. ?Book a short call, send me a message or email me - [email protected] and let’s explore what that support might look like.