"Some Advice Teens Gave Us About Mental Health, Love, and Valentine’s Day," February 13, 2025
Release Date: 02/14/2025
"ASAP: As Slow As Possible"
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is the Weekly Wellness Column which we send out by email each Friday on the same topic as our weekly podcast. ASAP: As Slow As Possible As we prepare to transition to summer, many people look forward to two things: more time outdoors and a slower rhythm of life. If you are a regular reader/listener of our weekly column and podcast, you know we take a break from producing this content between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We do this so that we, too, can spend more time outdoors and live our lives at a slower pace. When we recently came across several creative versions of the...
info_outline
"Let’s Normalize Conversations with One Another about Our Mental Health"
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is the Weekly Wellness Column which we send out by email each Friday on the same topic as our weekly podcast. Let’s Normalize Conversations with One Another about Our Mental Health You may have heard that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In honor of that, we thought it would be helpful to offer two simple yet powerful ways we can all help reduce the stigma of talking about mental health. Suggestion One: Let’s normalize talking about our emotional pain, just like we do with physical pain. Feeling sad or anxious during a difficult time in life is as...
info_outline
"The Wisdom of Momisms," May 9, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is the Weekly Wellness Column which we send out by email each Friday on the same topic as our weekly podcast. THE WISDOM OF MOMISMS It's been a few years since we shared some of the wise advice that mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and other women we have all been blessed to know have shared with us throughout our lives. We call these wise, pithy sayings Momisms. Here are a few of our favorites, and because this is a wellness column, we also share ways these words of advice apply to various aspects of well-being. "I'm not interested in who started it!" The...
info_outline
"Lessons Learned From a Mindfulness Jar," May 2, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is the Weekly Wellness Column which we send out by email each Friday on the same topic as our weekly podcast. Lessons Learned From a Mindfulness Jar We both have mindfulness jars on our desks and use them regularly in our coaching practices. And Holly used to use hers in her previous career as a grade school teacher. They are helpful in so many situations. And you can easily make one for yourself—do a quick online search, and you will find many suggestions. If the concept of a mindfulness jar is new to you, here's a short description. A...
info_outline
"Wellness Begins with We," April 18, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is the Weekly Wellness Compass Column for this week. Each podcast episode addresses the same theme as the column. Wellness Begins with We Passover and Easter overlap again this year, allowing us to reflect on the power of these celebrations for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The celebrations connected to these holy days, as with the celebrations of all religious holy days, are grounded in bringing people together. While individual beliefs and practices are important, the gathering of community is primary, a practice as old as human civilization. And...
info_outline
"In-Between Times," April 11, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is our Weekly Wellness Column, which is emailed every Friday morning and addresses the same topic as each week's podcast episode. In-Between Times Life is filled with clear beginnings and endings. As wonderful and/or sad as these times may be, the majority of life is filled with in-between times. These are the spaces where we are neither where we were, nor where we are going—just like spring here in Wisconsin, still cold and windy, yet sunny and the snow is gone, so it's neither fully winter nor spring. It's more of an in-between time. These in-between times can be...
info_outline
"Well Connected," April 4, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is our Weekly Wellness Column which is emailed every Friday morning and addresses the same topic as each week's podcast episode. Well Connected We recently came across an extended quote from Albert Einstein that we would like to share with you today. “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to...
info_outline
"The Benefits of Turning Over the Soil," March 28, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
Turning Over the Soil Wisconsin is known for it many Rails to Trails bike paths. Converting former rail lines to bike trails gives a safe (and flat) way to explore the countryside on two wheels. We ride these trails regularly and were delighted to get out for our first ride of the year this week. Wisconsin is also known for its abundant and fertile farmland. On our ride, we saw many farmers on their tractors plowing and turning over their soil as they prepared for planting season. And because we love to think in metaphors, we both agreed that turning over the soil from time to...
info_outline
"Hope Springs Eternal," March 21, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is our Weekly Wellness Column which is emailed every Friday morning and addresses the same topic as each week's podcast episode. Hope Springs Eternal Yesterday marked the first day of spring. In Wisconsin, where we live, it was more a day of hope than one of actual warmth. As we watched two determined golfers tee off on a course still dusted with snow, we couldn’t help but think of the timeless words of English poet Alexander Pope, written in 1733: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” His words capture the enduring optimism that keeps us looking ahead,...
info_outline
Making Time for Joy, March 14, 2025
The Wellness Compass Podcast
What follows is our weekly Wellness Compass column. This column is sent out by email each Friday, and our podcast each week addresses the same topic as the column. Making Time for Joy We both started music lessons a few weeks ago for instruments that are new for each of us. Holly is taking ukulesle lessons, and Scott is taking bluegrass fiddle lessons. We had been saying we were going to do this for a long time, and now that we are enjoying it so much, we wonder why we waited so long. Making time for the lessons and practicing has reminded us how much fun making music is and how...
info_outlineWhat follows is our Weekly Wellness Compass column on this same topic. The column is sent out every Friday morning by email.
Some Advice Teens Gave Us About Mental Health, Love, and Valentine’s Day
This Tuesday, I, Holly, had the privilege of spending my day in a combined Middle and High School (Turner MS/HS in Beloit, WI) for their annual Mental Health Awareness Day. During this Valentine’s week, everyone school-wide had set the day aside to focus on supporting student mental health by engaging in several different relaxing activities, engaging in group discussions on related topics, listening to speakers, and getting acquainted with all kinds of resources and organizations that work to support mental health in their area, Rock County, WI. I was one of those people as I was there to represent our nonprofit Wellness Compass Initiative.
Throughout the day, I had the opportunity to speak with most of those young people (ages 12 -18) and had the honor of listening to their concerns and desires, and meeting their friends. I also told them about this column and the corresponding Wellness Compass podcast. As a bit of research for our column, I asked them this important question: “What kinds of things would you like me to tell the adults who listen to our podcast about what they can do to support teen mental health?”
Here are some of their answers:
Don’t be so judgmental.
Share stories of the mistakes you made when you were young.
Consider how you sound to others. Bossy? Controlling?
Freaking Out? Supportive?
Don’t force things on us, like clubs, activities, and beliefs. Feel free to share your beliefs, but don’t force them on us.
Laugh and have fun with us.
Don’t say it’s just a phase. It is important to us now.
Encourage us.
You can say what you need to say without being mean about it.
Check in with us on a regular basis by asking “Are you OK?” And then really listen to what we are feeling.
Do things with us, like playing sports, hiking, and playing video games.
Honor our thoughts and opinions.
Don’t jump to conclusions.
Give us hugs.
Don’t make decisions for us.
Take interest in our interests.
Talk with us, not at us - fewer lectures and more listening, please.
As they spoke, I realized that what they were sharing with me could be applied to any relationships that we value and care about. So on Tuesday, out of the mouths of our young people came their suggestions for staying connected and supporting the mental health of all those we love. How appropriate for right before Valentine’s Day.
Their honest words are a good reminder for each of us as we consider how to express our love to all the important people in our lives this Valentine’s Day.
Which of their suggestions could you give as a gift to someone on this special day?