Overcoming Your Challenges
Everyone has challenges. Try not to let them hold you back or make you feel bad 👉
What are yours?
Education & Training
Working & Earning
Living & Loving
Education & Training
School 📚
School is something we all have to go through. It supports everything that comes afterwards, whether that’s an apprenticeship, a job, college, university, or starting your business.
The goal is to get what you need out of it in a way that suits your aims & goals for life, even if you find it a struggle.
Further study 🏫
You don’t have to continue studying after school if you don’t want to, unless you fancy learning a specific skill or want to take certain subjects to the next level.
Figuring out what’s right for you will depend on YOUR aims & goals for life, not anyone else’s.
These posts & episodes may help and check out Next Steps below 👇
2. Working & Earning
Career 👨🏫
Unless you’re already loaded, you need to work to earn money.
Money is the fuel for life, so it’s important to have some, ideally earning it doing something you’re good at and really enjoy.
What you do for a career will depend on your interests, values, Superpowers, and Kryptonite.
Getting the career you want depends on making the right plan for you.
Money management 💸
Cash is pretty important but getting, keeping and growing it once you’ve got it can be a challenge.
Understanding a few basic essentials will help, together with developing a few key skills.
These posts & episodes may help and check out Next Steps below 👇
3. Living & Loving
Accepting yourself 🤗
It’s tough thinking you’re different to everyone else.
The truth is, you’re probably not, at least not in the way you think. There are probably more people like you than you realise, you just haven’t found them yet!
Being different can be a good thing. When you accept yourself for who you are, you stop holding yourself back.
Healthy habits ⚖
Having the “right” qualifications, job, and money in the bank are important, but there’s a lot more to life than just checking boxes.
Figuring out the right balance for you, like having fun, being healthy, and appreciating the people and places around you, can add joy and satisfaction to your life in ways that can’t be measured 🤩
And remember, if you come up against obstacles, there’s always a way around them!
To explore these things further, check out the relevant posts in FIO’s Advice & Tips. You can also listen to The FiguringItOut Podcast, featuring interviews with teens about their experiences and advising professionals who support them.
For a more detailed guide and to get started yourself, check out FIO’s Discovering Me E-Book: Understanding Who You Are & Making Your Plan.
Explore other Discovering Me E-Books about a variety of common teenage challenges, such as Bullying, Sexuality, Change & Doubt, Peer Pressure, with more to come!
Education & Training
Your Post-16 Choices
Exploring your options post-16 can be rather daunting, but this useful collection of guides by UCAS will help steer you in the right direction.
Career Ideas & Options
This handy career planner is really helpful, whether you’re looking for ideas, have a rough idea, or you have a specific career in mind. Just select the option that applies to you and give it a go.
Working & Earning
Getting a job
The helpful Careers Advice section of the National Careers Service site takes you through the steps of getting a job, from understanding how you search for one, to writing a CV and preparing for an interview.
Money Management
The Money Advice Service have this helpful Beginners’ Guide to Managing Your Money, and if that doesn’t work for you, check out the Prince’s Trust’s tools and resources.
Starting a Business
Have an idea for a business? Learn how to get started with useful info sessions, workshops, and online business tools by The Prince’s Trust.
Living & Loving
General support
The Mix is the UK’s leading support service for under 25’s, helping with a range of challenges—from mental health to money, from homelessness to finding a job, from break-ups to drugs.
Mental Health
Young Minds is the UK’s leading charity supporting young people’s mental health. Check out their range of helpful guides.
Body Image
We all go through phases of not liking what we look like, our shape, size or features. Read up about body image, what to do if you’re worried and ways to build your self-esteem.
Sexuality
Figuring out and accepting your sexuality can be tough, but thankfully Stonewall Youth provides information, advice and support on figuring out your sexual orientation and gender identity.
Physical activity
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but regular exercise and physical activity can help you relax, feel energised, and enjoy life. Health for Teens offers interesting tips, videos and guides which will hopefully inspire you to make it a part of your lifestyle.
Addictive behaviours
This YouTube playlist of short films highlights important issues on mental health and addictive behaviours