How to cope with a teen pregnancy
At this point in my story, I was pregnant at 15 years by a boy I didn’t know and whom I hadn’t consented to have sex with.
My secret was out, and the guilt and shame were real. Coping with a teen pregnancy had never featured on my list of things to do before I turned 20. I wasn’t ready to be a mother to a living-breathing baby who would need my attention and support. But I had turned the clock, and my past was behind me, ready or not, I was going to be a mom. I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself. Instead, I needed to focus on the next steps to make the best possible future for my unborn child and me. In your current circumstances, what can you do to focus on a better future?
As soon as I realized there was no way out (as a minor, my mother decided I wasn’t getting an abortion).
I accepted responsibility for what was ahead. And looking back now, I’m glad I did. Otherwise, I would have missed on the blessing and joy my son brought into my life. Even now he’s an adult who has made me a grandmother twice. The situation was definitely not what I wanted. It turns out it’s what I needed to find my life’s purpose. We don’t always get our way, and that’s a good thing. What positive can come from not getting your way?
Besides discovering my life’s purpose and coping with a teen pregnancy better than I thought initially.
I learned that God hadn’t forgotten about me. Even in this, He had a plan and purpose. As a woman of faith, I struggled with the physical, emotional and spiritual sense of loss and abandonment during that time. If you’ll remember, I had been baptized only one week earlier. Then this happened. I questioned the presence and goodness of God in my life. The victory point is looking back and seeing how many people I’ve been able to help over the years because of my story. If like me, you feel God or your friends and family have forgotten you, hang in there. Have faith in God.
I’m very wary of people who say they would never do something. Want to know why? Because that was me. Almost a year to the date I discovered my 14-year old cousin was coping with a teen pregnancy without a father present, I was in the hospital delivering my son in similar circumstances. My big lesson from this: Never say never.
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I’m Summer Owens, and my passion is helping youth and young adults realize success no matter what obstacles they face. As an international resilience and leadership keynote speaker, author, S.O. What! Success Coach, and creator of the S.O. What! Literacy, Life Skills, and Character Education curriculum, I empower people to say, “So what!” to even their greatest challenges. provide a framework to help people see past their challenges and focus on solutions using the S.O. What! Success System (Overcome Obstacles + Eliminate Excuses + Calculate Choices = S.O. What! Success). Through keynotes, workshops, books, online courses, and workbooks, I use life’s challenges and my own story of resilience as a rape survivor and teen mom success story to help others confidently pursue their dreams.
Looking for an inspiring college motivational speaker? A high school literacy curriculum? A middle school life skills workbook? A great example for teen mothers? A women’s empowerment or single mother’s conference speaker? I’m your girl and will help any audience say, “S.O. What!”.
