Teenager. This is a term used to describe a period of time in life where one experiences the most change; mentally, emotionally and physically.
Every child dreams about becoming a teenager because we are told and guaranteed our teenage years are going to be the best years of our lives. It's going to be filled with memories, excitement, new friends, fun and happiness. But for some reason, the older we get the more problems we face, the more we hate ourselves and the more our insecurities grow, which is something nobody tells us about.
Something no one guides you through or no one guarantees us will be alright. We would do anything to become a children again, to not worry about the consequences, the stress, the fake people and the “beauty standard”. To not be judged because of what we wear, what we do and what we say. It's tougher than ever to be a teen in a highly competitive rapidly changing society we live in today.
A teenager’s life is not as simple as many think. The changes each adolescent goes through are enormous. Teenagers are constantly pressured by their surroundings. Pressure from social media, friends, family, teachers and the rest of society. Our bodies are changing everyday. This makes us feel inferior, extremely insecure and unsatisfied with our physical appearance. We can't help but compare ourselves to others. We bear pressure from the world around us about our education too.
Pulling all nighters to study and please the people who say “you need to get straight A’s”. Shoving thousands and thousands of math equations down our heads just to get that perfect GPA, then forgetting everything and going back to worry about our insecurities. People don't care how we are feeling or what we are going through as long as we know that the powerhouse of the cell is the mitochondria. When you are a teenager you are expected to become mature and responsible but the only thing we feel responsible for is knowing how to solve for x.
The truth is that we are misunderstood. We are treated like children but expected to be like adults. People have always been stereotyping us teenagers. Due to that we are considered immature, unreliable and irresponsible.
Just because we are teenagers doesn't mean we are hormonal or reckless based on our decisions. We are reckless because of our insecurities. It doesn't mean we are addicted to our phones, it doesn't make us any less of a human being. Society thinks we are going through a “phase”. “It will pass soon”. But it's not a phase. It's impacting our lives right now, tomorrow and maybe forever.