Well This Is Growing Up

Well, This Is Growing Up is a fantastic guide for young women and their parents with inspiration and educational messages to successfully survive the teenage years.

Well, This Is Growing Up cover topics such as: friends, bullying, kindness, social media, heartbreak, unrequired love, sex and more. Author, Megan Street educates a young audience whilst sharing her own stories all with a touch of humour.

Interview with Megan Street

Question: What originally inspired you to write Well, This Is Growing Up?

Megan Street: Honestly, I'd never planned to write a book, but what led me to writing was when I tragically lost a friend to suicide.

I have always been quite optimistic and love anything to do with motivation, resilience and helping other people…I thought surely there is something I can do to help anyone/many struggling out there with depression and/or thoughts of suicide.


Question: What's the main message you'd like readers to take from Well, This Is Growing Up?

Megan Street: Whatever it is you may be going through you really, really have got this!

Everyone wants happiness nobody wants pain, but you can't have the sunshine without the rain.


Question: Why was it crucial that profits of Well, This Is Growing Up were donated to BeyondBlue?

Megan Street: After losing a friend to suicide/depression, I wanted to support an organisation that does an amazing job at helping those struggling with mental illness' and thoughts of suicide. I also think that giving is an important part of life. When we feel grateful for what we have and the life we live it's hard not to give, whether it's time, money or even just a hug.


Question: If you could share one piece of advice with your 13-year-old self, what would it be?

Megan Street: Do you really need to explain yourself to those who are set on misunderstanding you?


Question: How difficult was it to relive certain aspects of your life whilst writing Well, This Is Growing Up?

Megan Street: Some chapters were pretty hard. I'll never forget when I wrote the driving (Freedom) chapter… So backstory; my friend picked me up one night, it was pouring with rain, she was driving too fast and we crashed and rolled three times. It's a miracle that we walked away totally unharmed (physically). When I wrote this chapter the problems I had with driving all came back to haunt me again. I didn't drive for ages, freaked out massively in cars, flashbacks/nightmares of rolling, refused to be passenger etc. I'm way better in cars now, but I didn't expect that I would struggle to relive the experience when I simply wrote about it in Well, This Is Growing Up.


Question: How have you implement self-care into your regime?

Megan Street: Yoga and meditation are my go-to's, but any physical activity works for me. I'm also recently onto the Jade Egg bandwagon.


Question: Why was it important to include your own stories in Well, This Is Growing Up?

Megan Street: Not only was it important to include stories for entertainment and to get the point across but to help young women relate and realise that they are not alone in their problems and struggles.


Question: How can females attempt to see negative situations differently?

Megan Street: Negative emotions can get a bad-wrap. We can try our best to use 'negative' emotions as ammunition to drive us harder toward a goal. Not only does this help us deal with the feelings but it can also help us work toward something that is important to us.

"A plane takes off against the wind not with it" - Henry Ford


Question: What advice do you have for teenagers currently struggling with being bullied, at High School?

Megan Street: People might try to put limitations on you, but the only person who can truly limit you is you.
Happy people aren't mean. When someone is happy they are the one lifting others up not bringing them down.
If someone is saying something hurtful towards you: Why should you base any of your self-worth on what a stranger/ someone who probably doesn't know the real you thinks of you.
Music: hardcore helped me, but pick your favourite songs/genre.
Being mean to you helps them feel better about themselves - helps them deal with their insecurities.
Ignore them. It's easier said than done, but you're better than their opinon. They want a reaction from you; don't satisfy them by giving them one. 
Keep going, high school isn't forever, you've got this!


Question: What's next for you?

Megan Street: I have a few collaborations coming up soon which I'm super excited about, stay tuned! @meganxstreet


Interview by Brooke Hunter