Editor’s Letter: Fall 2022

We’re back!

What better time of year to get things started than Fall? It’s the season to sharpen a bouquet of pencils and put on your best plaid skirt. It’s back to school time and even if it’s been decades since you got your last report card, that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from a class or two.

Expanding your horizons isn’t always comfortable—particularly after a certain age. The childhood brain was made to be malleable and absorb information as a form of survival. Meanwhile, our adult brain has been trained to look for patterns that work and stick with them for that very same reason.

Thankfully, once the pre-frontal cortex has developed at age 25, adults also benefit from better emotional regulation and impulse control than their childhood counterparts. That means that while we may absorb information less quickly, we also have the tools to reduce our emotional frustrations when the process is slower than anticipated.

This month’s “Back to Cool” issue may sound like a callback to the cliche Fall themes of your teen mag past, but it’s actually an invitation, not just to learn throughout your lifetime, but to keep your cool while doing so, both internally and externally.

Have something to say about stress management, self-care, or adult learning? We’ll be publishing writer and artist submissions for this issue during our new “Free Space Fridays” while regular posts will come out Mondays and Wednesdays.

Submit your little heart out on our “Meet the Team” page now and you just might find your face on that same space later this month.

School is in session, no matter what your age.

xo,
Michelle Shea Walker,
FormerTeen Editor-in-Chief

Edit: As of this issue, we’re transitioning away from a monthly issue format to a seasonal one.