hell is a teenager
that no one can escape
Congratulations. You’ve turned 13. Now what?
You’re fresh into middle school. The 8th grade.
You feel a sense of pride wash over you, finally. A new chapter in your life.
So many goals pop up in your head.
Get in a relationship
Plan for college
First kiss
Color your hair
Make new friends
Get popular
You pass all your classes with flying colors, you’re in a new friend group, you have an amazing boyfriend, you’re excited to see what high school brings.
Oops! You were wrong.
You see the absolute barbaric hell being a teenager is once you’re well into the 10th grade.
The middle ground of being a teen.
The bridge between your middle school phase and your “fuck gotta lock in for college apps” phase
You see everything your 8th grade self NEVER expected.
Your boyfriend cheated on you with your so-called “best friend”.
Your friend group fell apart after one of your “friends” started talking shit about every person in the group. (Including you)
Popularity is measured by social media followers and your loyal army of skanks.
You follow the trends you see on TikTok and Instagram just to blend in.
You try to scale up the social hierarchy and land on an average rank. You sit comfortably between the popular kids and the nobodies.
You accept every invitation, every hangout, just to avoid getting FOMO.
You used to be academically gifted. Now you’re just burnt out.
Your voice changes, your body changes. Acne, bodily maturation, hormones. Puberty.
Your mental health declines. You can’t live up to the best.
You “don’t like” that one cartoon anymore. It’s too cringe.
You start liking that one band because they like it too.
Your parents and teachers breathe down your neck about college.
Choose the best college!”, “Choose a course that will make you rich!”
You start missing your childhood. Being carefree. Being happy. Being you.
You start spiraling. You start questioning,
“Who am I? What do I want?”
What the fuck? This is what being a teenager’s like?
You notice how you’re expected to act like an adult yet get treated like a little kid.
Your opinions are considered obsolete because “the adults know best”
You get called a bitch once your mood swings start. You think, “I thought adults knew better. Weren’t they teenagers too?”
All your decisions are influenced by your peers and the adults around you one way or another.
You try time and time again to establish your true identity but not even hours of reflection help.
Is being a teenager not considered human?
Teenagers are constantly scrutinized by everyone around them.
Teenagers face immense identity issues.
Teenagers’ mental health are often considered “fake” or “dramatic”
Teenagers must keep up with academics and social life or they will fall.
Teenagers must decide on a college, course, and job that pleases society.
Teenagers measure their self-worth through external aspects.
Money
Fame
Friends
Relationships
Looks
Teenagers find it hard to find themselves in a world that forces them to settle for someone they know they are not.
From the eyes of a current teenager, it DID feel like this.
However, it gets better as you get older.
You start navigating through social hierarchy that almost everyone will forget once you graduate.
You start caring less about what others think and find yourself in the long journey of discovering yourself.
You may find yourself overthinking but you’re stronger than you were before.
You slowly start seeing the real friends who will stick by you no matter what.
You don’t measure your worth through relationships, fame, or money anymore.
You’re start becoming content with who you are and you grow everyday because of it.
You start re-loving the things you left behind during your “everything is cringe” phase.
To be cringe is to be free!
Life starts feeling breezier now that you don’t let the mundane things get to you.
Maybe hell takes form in being a teenager.
But that doesn’t mean we have to look at it that way for 6 straight years.
So to any teenager out there having some form of crisis, just know that everything will be okay.
You have people that truly love you for who you are.
You have yourself to love, and that’s the most important thing in the world.
being 16 year old currently... it fucking sucks 😭