At your age, something incredible is happening to your brain where the actions of those around you, whether you realize it or not, are more and more important to you.

You are picking up on the little things. You are, whether you know it or not, figuring out what everyone wants, and what everyone seems to be the right thing to do, the sexy thing to do.

You may find yourself thinking about what your friends are doing, what they’re thinking, and what they would think of what you’re doing.

You may even find you are thinking as one big group, and that your mind is just one of many in this all-powerful, risky force!

Your peers become important to you at this time, there’s no denying. And many authors and poets have written about the intensity and the wonder of relationships at your age, from first love to friendship.

It is an amazing time you will want to soak up as you will never have it again.

You will be stronger, wiser, more competent, and more adult.

Now, you will have heard it a billion times - don’t be led down the wrong path, don’t follow the group too much. There is so much terror when you step away from what everyone else is doing and truly strike out on your own, whether that’s saying no to a bad decision, or choosing something different to wear.

The important thing, in all of this, is to listen to your heart closely.

For you will know when you are doing the wrong thing. In the silence of your thoughts and solitude, it will whisper it to you. As Rumi wrote, “Shhhh… let silence tell you the secrets of the world!”

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be talking, arguing, screaming, yelling.

Find your voice and use it!

Yet at your age, in the crowds and in the chaos of teenage life, there are so many voices yelling it can be easy to repeat the words of others and forget your own.

If you listen inside, you may find your song to give.

And let us hear it.