Being a teenager in today’s society is not easy. Everything has to be done so quickly, lots of people expect something from you, there are always so many decisions you have to make and life is full of ups and downs. Some days everything goes right, on other days nothing does. Many things will influence how we feel and different people will be affected in different ways. There are no right or wrong ways about how to feel, but it’s good to try to work out what we like and what can make us feel happy. This is what is sometimes called ’the feel good factor’.

Think about the world we live in. Think about the things that you do every day. What things can happen which make you smile and feel good about yourself? What things can happen which make you feel unhappy and put you in a bad mood? The things you think about may be quite small, like seeing a friend, smelling your favourite food, a compliment given about the way you look - they can all influence the way you feel. A lot of these things are special to each of us – they are our ‘personal feelings’. Other feelings are ones that we can share with others, like supporting a football team or seeing a really good film at the cinema.

Learning to enjoy all of the good things in life is as important as learning to cope with the bad ones. It can help to improve the quality of our lives. How we feel about ourselves is influenced by some important aspects of the world around us, such as the environment, a career, the society we live in, services provided for us – but also what we think about ourselves. Being a teenager can sometimes be a difficult job. Lots of things about you are changing – the way you look, feel, and see the world. It can sometimes be very confusing. Experts seem to say that if we can learn to feel good about ourselves, then it can make being a teenager slightly easier and make you have a better time in this period of change.

Some of the topics which will be covered on this website will help you to understand yourself and what’s happening around us. If we can do this, it means we can cope better and the ‘feel good factor’ will kick in!