Guest Blog from Be Confident Be You author Becky Goddard-Hill

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‘Be Confident Be You’ is my brand-new confidence boosting book for teens. It is a sister to my happiness boosting book for teens ‘Be Happy be You’ which is an approved ‘book on prescription’ to boost teen mental health.

Tricky teen years

The teen years can be exciting, full of change and opportunity, and packed with new experiences. But these things can all feel daunting and rather overwhelming. The teen years also come with so much pressure: from peers, school, family, and society. Along with increasing self-consciousness, hormones, brain changes and body changes making it a sensitive, emotional, and often confusing time. All these combined can really take a toll on confidence and self-esteem.

‘Be Confident Be You’ covers 40 issues that affect teen’s confidence today, ranging from studying to self-talk and social media. It looks at where to find help, how to get along with grownups, dealing with identity and boundaries, creativity, friendships, risk taking and so much more. It is designed to help teens build up their resilience and self-belief in each and every area of their life.

Self-help books (‘shelf’ help!)

The teen years can be bewildering, but a teen may well not to want to go to parents or teachers for guidance initially as they may be embarrassed or uncertain about sharing private concerns.

Dipping into a well-researched guidebook like ‘Be Confident Be You’ can give them the pointers they need with the privacy they crave and hopefully the confidence to seek further help should they require it.

Books can work brilliantly as self-help tools.

How the book works

The book is split into three distinct sections, confident thoughts, confident actions and confident relationships.

Each topic is bursting with tools to help teens feel so much better about themselves. Each topic is also underpinned by science and research so it is easy to understand what and why these issues occur as well as what can help. Within each area, a practical way to try out these ideas is also included so teens who learn more by experience than reflection can also make good use of the book. The activities include art, questionnaires, role play and even power posing! There is definitely something for everyone.

For example, in the chapter on feeling socially awkward, the book explains that peer approval causes a huge spike in the teens years which feels amazing, and this is why teens can feel quite desperate to look cool in front of their peers. However, at the same time, age 15 self- consciousness peaks, so teens can feel extremely embarrassed and self-aware just at the time they most want approval!

Just knowing what’s going on can be reassuring but ‘Be Confident be You’ also offers suggestions of things that can help, such as talking things over with friends, who will also be feeling this, putting attention onto other people rather than yourself, by asking them questions about themselves

A guidebook like ‘Be Confident be You’ cannot take away the challenges of teen life but it can help teens face them with a confidence boosting tool kit that makes every challenge easier to tackle.

I want every teen to know confidence is not fixed, it is not something you are just born with and it is entirely possible with just a little effort  to develop the skills and mindset you need to help you feel confident and capable of taking action in line with that.