EYFPodcast- Exercise Your Faith by creating a God Squad. Flirting with Darkness #8. Make some new Friends

Every year I tell my middle school students to be careful as to who they become friends with. At 11-13 years old friends are everything in the life of a pre-teen/teenager. The choices they make at this age can sometimes have a lifetime of consequences, both good and bad. Depression and the way it manifests in your life can sometimes be attributed back to whom you are friends with. In good times and in bad, who we choose to spend time with can affect how we get into or out of depression. A common issue many find today is the feelings of failure when goals aren't met or things don't happen exactly as we had planned. It's during these times that the best thing we can do is go skateboard with our friends or some other activity where all you're doing is living in the moment. The problem with depression is that it causes you to either regret your past or fear your future while not allowing you to live in the moment. Good friends are worth their weight in gold if they can see that in you and then in turn help you to just do today and not worry about yesterday or the future. 

Make your friendships into friendtrips.