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Rachel Lindgren – Miss Ohio Valley Outstanding Teen 2008 |
Miss Ohio Valley Outstanding Teen Talks Stress Management
Indiana high school senior Rachael Lindgren, the reigning Miss Ohio Valley Outstanding Teen 2008, knows a lot about stress and how to manage it, and she’s sharing what she knows with other people, especially teens.
Lindgren incorporated stress awareness and management as a central theme in her one-year reign and created a Web site devoted to that mission. The welcoming message on the home page of Positively Living Under Stress says, "My name is Rachael Lindgren and I am Miss Ohio Valley’s Outstanding Teen for 2008. My platform is to bring awareness to teens about how to deal with stress in their everyday life." The page also includes a link to www.heartmath.org. Visitors to the site will also find the steps to HeartMath’s Freeze Frame® Technique for taking a timeout from stressful situations and an illustration and description of heart-brain communication.
"By equipping our Indiana youth with the skills to handle peer pressures, academic pressures, athletic challenges and social problems, I am modeling the behavior that I want to see in them," she wrote as part her platform for another competition.
A model of self-confidence and promoter of stress-free, healthy living, Lindgren believes America’s youth can pre-empt many of the problems they face today by learning about stress and how to control it at an early age. She has talked to students in classes about stress management and encourages schools to emphasize it.
She described what she believes are some of the key contributors to teen stress: "Parents pressure their children too much. … Stress with friends is huge," she said. "High school is hard enough to fit in, and when your friends lose their identity they want you to lose yours as well to fit in with them."
Lindgren, who began using the emWave® PC/Mac Stress Relief System two years ago, described what causes her stress and the benefits of using HeartMath tools to fight it:
"I and many others get test anxiety," she said. "It’s hard not to at this age. … School causes me a lot of stress because I’m actively involved in many school activities. I use the Freeze Frame® Technique on myself before a test or those times when I’m feeling overwhelmed. When I use the methods, I feel as if I had just been taken high in the air, and by that I mean, I feel extremely calm and in control of my feelings and my body. I feel very clear in my head, which allows me to block out any disturbances and perform to the best of my ability. Children as well as adults will always have some anxiety, but (HeartMath) allows you to control that."
Lindgren resides in Greentown, a community of around 2,500 people that lies about 60 miles south of Indianapolis, the state capital. Earlier this year, in honor of Lindgren’s work on behalf of teens, the mayor of Greentown proclaimed February 25 Youth P.L.U.S. Day.
The list of Lindgren’s achievements is as impressive as her knowledge of and passion for promoting stress awareness. She has had a busy high school career, including serving as class president her freshman and junior years at Eastern High School and on student council and various other school groups. She has been on the swimming, volleyball and soccer teams and performed in and choreographed high school shows. She has studied dance most of her life – ballet, tap and jazz – including in New York with noted dance instructors, and has won many competitions.
Along with many other honors thus far in her young life, she once sang the national anthem at an Indiana Pacers NBA game.
Lindgren, who intends to continue her education at either Indiana University or Purdue University, currently is planning to compete in the Junior Miss Indiana competition next year.
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