WHAT YOU WERE NEVER TOLD: THE JOURNEY FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD
Shubhra Seth
WHAT YOU WERE NEVER TOLD: THE JOURNEY FROM ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD by By Vipul Rastogi Rupa Publications India, New Delhi, 2024, 219 pp., INR 395.00
November 2024, volume 48, No 11

This book is a must read for all age groups, particularly the young adolescents, and members who closely interact with this age group. The author presents each section as a matter of conversation with young people. The book discusses the much talked about ‘stress’ and its coping mechanisms, while making space for the reader to pen down their feelings and provides strategies to manage stress. The various examples from different case studies as presented by the author make the theme dealt with under each section real and relatable. To understand the ecology of failure and how we can view it differently is an important chapter in the book under Part 1. Relationships and break-ups are two important points of discussion and concern amongst the adolescents, and this book gives vital insights into the importance of having healthy relationships, coping with break-ups without losing self-esteem and the openness with which one must approach counselling if required under emotional duress. Social media and how much it impacts the self-esteem and persona of an adolescent have been dealt with sensitively by the author. The book also refers to Maslow’s pyramid and the goals left unachieved because we constantly keep measuring ourselves through people’s opinion about us. To be connected in this ocean called digital world and in the rising and ebbing tides of social media, every individual has to be a careful surfer and evaluate the depths of water lest they get drowned in the world of ‘like, share and comment’.

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