Chicken Soup Chapter 3 Reflections (Essay Blog Question) - Elgin Low Quanbin / Vorro Matamee

Teenagers are still growing up, and there are many aspects affecting the growth of a child. Some of these aspects include physical, psychological, and more importantly, emotional. The emotional growth of a child greatly affects the child's future, as well as all other aspects. This can be linked to the analogy, that one's actions are controlled by their brain. Thus, it is very important to have good emotional upbringing, something that is getting increasingly rarer in today's modern-day context. The ensuing paragraphs elaborate on emotional problems a child might face during their growing up phase, and more importantly discuss about some solutions to these problems.

Humans are social animals. It's because of that, that we have relationships with other people around us, and therefore we are greatly influenced by the people around us, and their activities and behaviour. This influence however, can be good or bad. Family divorces are fine examples of negative influence on an individual, even more so if that individual is part of the divorced family. This can lead to stress, depression, and many other symptoms. One way to counter this though, is to take things easily, and cultivate a more relaxed personality. One could start by doing things that make themselves feel good. This method of coping, though, is a 'double-edged sword'. If you are a little relaxed, it could ease your problems. However, certain people tend to be TOO relaxed, forgoing their lives altogether.

Another prominent 'double-edged sword' method is being an optimist. Optimistic people tend to look at things with a more 'can do' attitude, and are generally more open to possibilities and alternatives. However, being too optimistic can lead to the over-estimation of certain things, and this may lead to a bad trait, commonly known as over-confidence.

Then, there is faith and hope. It is the hope that eventually, personal disappointments and bitter feelings or ill-advised hatred eventually recede over time. Once that happens, a person can finally move on with life. However, one also has to help one's self to get over a negative incident. There is the saying 'If you are unwilling to help yourself, not even God can help you'. Preparation is always good, and more so because one does not know when they can finally forgive and forget the past, and put it behind.

Finding healthy ways to express your emotions, are one of the most effective ways to cope with an ordeal. This often includes writing a journal, doing something creative, going for walks, and simply confiding in people you trust. This is one of the most effective means of coping with emotional trauma. It helps to confide in people you trust because, they can give you advise and perspectives of a problem that you may not have thought of on your own. Going for walks, exercising can help take your mind off your problems too, however, it may be temporarily only. Doing what you like to do best can sometimes help balance your feelings. This not only occupies your time to take your mind off your problems, sometimes, certain hobbies have lessons for people to learn, especially hobbies involving social circles. Writing a journal helps too, through means of organising your thoughts, and sometimes when you are confused, this helps because you can pen down clearly what your problems are and how you think you can deal with them, and from there, decide the most viable and effective means of coping with a problem.

Then there is always the courtesy of thanking people for helping you. A sincere 'thanks' can go a long way in somebody's heart if you actually mean it.

All in all, there are many ways to deal with emotional problems. Though some may be more effective than others, they all offer some degree of help. Some, however, may be more effective to certain individuals compared to others. A doctor once said 'one man's meat may be another's poison', denoting that some methods may instead worsen a situation.