Surviving Teen Pregnancy Without Losing Your Mind

Surviving teen pregnancy had never featured in any of my plans for my life.

In fact, I looked down on other girls who got pregnant. I thought they deserved what happened to them because of their promiscuous and fast ways. Yet here I was in the same boat. A pregnant teen who would soon become a mother. The decisions I had made in the past had led me to this point. I chose to be in a bedroom with a young man whom I allowed to touch me. Things went too far. He didn’t stop when I asked him to, and even though I didn’t feel any penetration, the result was the same. I got pregnant. This was a painful time in my life. But the pain taught me something about extending grace to others and not judging others. People who didn’t know my story had judged me and found me lacking. In their eyes, I was like every other pregnant teenager out there.

In the same way, my past decisions had led me to that moment.

The decisions I was going to make after would equally define my future. I wish I could say I made smart decisions immediately. But I didn’t. Instead, I hid my pregnancy and tried to run away from the fact that I was dealing with a teen pregnancy. I talked about things with my friend and other people who couldn’t guide me in making the right choices in my current situation.

Instead, I learned that my ignorance wasn’t bliss.

The pregnancy only exposed how much I didn’t know about sex, pregnancy, pregnancy prevention and options to consider when you find yourself with a teen pregnancy. I hadn’t been taught these things at home or in school. Instead, I was learning them the hard way – through the school of life. With the gift of hindsight and 41 years’ worth of life experiences, I know surviving a teen pregnancy is possible. But it takes several things working together:

Seek mature, Godly advice. I always wanted to be a grown up and acted “grown”, but when faced with a decision, the hardest decision of my life, I was reminded of how much of a child I still was. However, I still was not smart enough to seek advice on my adult decision.  

Ignorance is not bliss. Everything I didn’t know about sex and pregnancy was exposed. I didn’t know about pregnancy prevention, adoption, abortion or having a baby. I had to learn, but I learned the hard way.

Get educated.

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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!”.

www.SummerOwens.com