"Teen"
“Life” is a small word that has different levels of value for different people. Most people cherish it, wishing they could live longer—especially older people, who often dream to return to their younger selves. But for us teenagers, sometimes we wish we were closer to the end. Maybe it’s because we’re stuck in a phase where we’re not kids anymore, but we’re also not adults. We’re treated like children yet expected to act like adults. We can’t have too much fun because we’re “too old” for it, but we’re also expected to dedicate ourselves to endless studying until we have no strength left because we have to make sure to be successful in the future. We each have different abilities, different talents, yet we’re all expected to excel in the same subjects—math, English, science, music, art—as if our futures will all follow the same path.
We are all different and special. Maybe the girl struggling in English is a math genius. Maybe the boy failing all his classes is the #1 soccer player in the city, but still, we’re expected to be great at everything, even when some of it has nothing to do with the life we dream of building. We just want to be understood, yet many adults believe that since we are still “kids,” we have no real emotions. But the truth is, emotions are all we have. We can’t just brush off disrespect, we can’t ignore the way people talk about our insecurities as if they don’t matter. While we try so hard to love ourselves, fit in, and hide our flaws, others carelessly point them out—and that’s all we can think about.
We tell others not to worry about how they look or what people think, yet those same thoughts bother us. We offer reassurance to others, saying the words that we wish someone would say to us. We see ourselves as the most imperfect human beings, yet we don’t feel free to talk about our actual feelings. Why? Because when we do, we’re told we’re being “dramatic” or “self-absorbed.”
I’ve always felt like an outsider in my own life. I’ve never had more than three or four friends, and even then, I struggle to find people who truly include me. I try to get close to others, but I don’t know how. Maybe it’s because of my family—where the emotions of children don’t seem to matter, where I wasn’t taught how to be fun and how to look kind to others, now when I don’t talk to anyone I just sit alone in class not wanting to talk to others because I Don’t know what they’ll think about me, maybe they will make fun of me, maybe they will find me weird for talking to them, so I just keep being quiet while others make friends in seconds.
My parents don’t care about their own kids’ mental health but my parents’ mental health is of the utmost importance. I have to stay by their side, cheer them up, but when I try to express my own emotions, I regret it. They make me feel guilty for standing up for myself. But does that even matter? After all, they are the elders, and I should respect them, right? For me, respect should go both ways—“Give respect, take respect.” Yet somehow, they believe I will continue to respect them even after they disrespect me. Maybe that’s why they call me spoiled—because I refuse to let anyone control me however they please.
Being a teenager in the 21st century is exhausting. We’re expected to smile, to be strong, to keep going even when the world pushes us down. Our parents tell us to “stand up for ourselves,” yet when we do—especially to them—they call us disrespectful. So we hold it in, just trying to handle everything like the “strong, independent” people they want us to be.
We’re always asked, “Why are you so dramatic and sensitive?” Maybe it’s because we’ve already been through so much, and now we’re just tired. Maybe our hearts are too full—too hurt—to bear anything else. Maybe we’re not “dramatic”—maybe we’re just trying to make you understand that we’re exhausted from pretending that your “harmless jokes” don’t affect us.
Of course, not every teenager feels this way. Some are genuinely happy. But those who feel nothing at all? They are often the ones making others insecure—because they’ve never felt the pain of constantly questioning their own worth.
it’s not just adults who are at fault. Other teenagers can be just as cruel. Some have faced hardships themselves but choose to bring others down to feel better. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been bullied—for the way I look, for the things I like, for simply being myself. And sometimes, the people who made fun of me were once my closest friends. The ones I shared my secrets with. The ones I comforted when they were hurting. I gave them advice, I tried to lift them up—yet they still chose to be the kind of person who makes others feel small just to feel big.
Being a teenager is hard. We are filled with emotions, hopes, and struggles that no one seems to truly see. All we want is to be understood.
I usually look at the girls on social media thinking what would happen if I look like them, would people treat me better? This has always been a question to me, maybe because my parents and relatives just seem to bring the topic of my weight into the conversations multiple times a day. I just feel like they would love me more if I looked more pretty, if I was skinny and smart, but I guess we’ll never know the answer.
Looks are not the only thing that us teenagers worry about, I used to be smart in the beginning grades, my mom used to always brag with her friends about how smart I am and how the teachers are so proud of me. But the day that I moved countries, and grew up, my grades just kept on decreasing. I went from a top class student to as long as I pass, It’s not that I don’t try to be smart like my other friends, but I can not manage to do everything together, even Robots get tired and break after working countlessly, so why are we, humans required to manage it all and keep smile on our faces saying that this is how life supposed to be?
I just wish there was an emotion to explain what teenagers feel, it’s not depression, anxiety,or love, it’s everything combined, it’s something that includes every negative emotion. We can not be too smart because we will be called a nerd or a teacher’s pet, we can not be middle because we are good but not good enough, we can not be a bad student because we are called disappointment to the family and school, we somehow have to be perfect in all the way, but we can not outshine everyone because then we have no manners and patience.
We just wish we were no longer a teen, we want to grow up and have our own freedom. I always feel like I would be mentally better if I was far away from my family, just a calm life with everything I want to have. But no I still have to be responsible for everything, even tho I am only 15, I have to be a second mom for my little siblings, I have to clean and take care of the house, I have to also study, but my parents just say “ we had harder life than you will ever have.” But we don’t live at the same time now do we? Now our life is very different, you weren’t that mentally tired like we are now, you will not understand our feelings unless you have experienced what we went through.
My parents think that if I am not going to be rich then I’ll be poor, they think there is no in the middle, but I know there is, I want to have life where I am not the richest but I am neither poor, I just want to have life where i can buy stuff that I need and not to worry about debts or getting kicked out of my home.
On top of everything else, we are also at the age where we get in our first ever relationships, which is interesting part of life, we meet new people, we fall in love for the first time, we dream about our future with them, but it is also the scariest part of life, we can get hurt, manipulated, lied and cheated on, I got cheated on and also manipulated by the people I thought would never do that to me, but in the end you never know what people’s goals are with you, you just gotta watch and see, for me as a girl when I first got into the relationship, my heart was racing very fast, just imagining the future with them, we used to go everywhere together, hold hands, late night talks, but we had a secret relationship from our parents, maybe because we were still kids we were not allowed to date of course, but we still decided to give it a try, which I wish we never did, after almost 2 years of relationship, I got my heart broken 2 weeks before my birthday, I also got heart broken by one of my closest friends, how you might think, they both broke my heart for the same reason, they were together for about five months, thank god I found outaboutiton time. After that I also developed trust issues, it was really hard for me to trust anyone, till I met someone else who I thought also loved me but turns out it was just lust, after that I just decided to lock my heart for sometimes, and still I can’t trust anyone, I feel like I will never find the love of my life, but we’ll never know, after all I’m still young.
But in the end we still are just teenagers, we have to wait till we grow up, till we have the life we have always dreamed of, find the love of our lives, hang out with people whenever we want, but until then we have to live in a world where we are always misunderstood.
Sometimes I get that guilt feeling in me because I really do not know what I actually like and what I want to do in the future, I see others around me already knowing and studying for what they wish to go with in their life, while I look at them confused, I mean I have not experienced that much to know what I actually like, but I’m sure I will know before I finish highschool — I really hope so. But Iwanna be careful with what I choose, because one wrong choice and my whole life will be ruined, I have to choose something I will not regret doing, I heard someone say on social media “Choose something you would do for free, and make that your career, that way you will never have a sad day in your life regarding career.” I don’t know who it was but I do agree with them a lot, because a simple choice could change your life for the best but also for the worst.
Another topic is Family, in our teenage years we have problems within our family that also affect our mental health, in these years we find out about how different we are from them, we find out about the “family drama” we just keep on fighting with each other, we just want to be away from home, we don’t want to see their faces, we wish we had different parents, but at the same time we feel guilty of always fighting with them, not being the daughter/son that makes them proud, we feel like we’re failures, we want to tell them that we love them, about our feelings, but we can not because we don’t want them to think that they are bad parents, in the end we just keep distance with them. I don’t know about boys, but as a girl after I became a woman, me and my dad aren’t close anymore, I feel uncomfortable to talk with him about my feelings, about girl’s problems. When I’m on my menstrual cycle, I am always careful in front of my dad, I get cramps, my dad asks why my stomach hurts, I feel embarrassed to tell him it’s because of my period, that I am a “woman” now, My body changes, it grows, and I am no longer by dad’s little princess, now we barely talk, I still don’t get why dads change after their little girls hit puberty, after all we are still your daughter…
In the end we are just stupid teenagers who don’t know their future and still are getting to know life, I just wanted to encourage all the teenagers that are reading this and can relate to this short story to not give up, right now you might be mistreated or misunderstood by others but do not give up, wait for couple of years till you grow up to make all your dreams come true, even if not all teenagers are with you, I am with you, all the other teens reading this as well are with you, and I ask you to be with other teenagers who are struggling to keep it together as well, do not stress out about you life.
It is okay to be confused about your future and not knowing what path you wanna go in life, just make sure to do what makes you happy and confident, not what others are expecting from you, because in the end it is still your life and you are the main character of your book. Do not let others pull you down, remember that there is no one out there like you, maybe similar but not the same, you have to know that you are worthy and you are not made to please everyone.
Written by a teenager for a teenager
M.B
