I get really stressed out, and I know I'm definitely not the only one. Especially in this special age range called the teenage years. S
1. Living Up To Expectations
Even though I really shouldn't try to meet others expectations, when it comes to my parents and my teachers, I find that their opinion matters because I feel they care about me. I also pressure myself with my own expectations, and I am my hardest critic.
2. Doing Everything
I can't even begin to describe how busy some of us are. Most of my peers have somewhere around 15 extracurriculars when most college applications will only have room for around 10. I fall victim to this very often, and it's super stressful. Sometimes, it doesn't even feel like I'm doing it because I want to.
3. People Get Exhausting
This is mostly a problem I have, I think. Once I get through the day dealing with people at school, I come home and have no energy to talk to my parents. This must be what they feel like after a day of work, but my mother has more energy than I do, frankly. I don't know how. Dealing with friendships and relationships also drains me of energy, too, but in a positive way.
4. Self-Depreciation
Tying back to the idea of putting too much pressure on myself, I self-deprecate myself often, and so do my classmates. It is common for students to compare themselves to each other, even though they mean no real malice by it.
5. Reading Others
I have trouble understanding others sometimes, it gets really problematic. I don't know what it is that people want from me sometimes, or what I should or shouldn't say. Sometimes when I am down my peers pick me up and compliment me often, but when I feel even a slight bit of confidence in my abilities, they tear me down without meaning to.
6. Being Too Positive
Sometimes it's hard to be positive when so many people around you feel that their dreams can never be achieved. Sometimes it goes unseen, and people don't realize how pessimistic they really are. I can understand being realistic, but most people I am around have the capability of becoming successful people, yet they underestimate themselves.
That also includes myself, but I may be too optimistic to the point where people consider me to be "scarily dedicated."
7. Not Taking Risks
I was once told that I wasn't really a person that knew how to live. I didn't know how to respond to that, and I still don't know how to. I think I challenge myself every day by even taking a step outside, so to hear someone say that I am not doing enough makes me feel down. I don't think I can be quite as reckless as the person who told me this, I think there's a clear line between living and going out of your way to do something obviously stupid or illegal.
SEE ALSO: 5 Things You Need To Hear If You Feel Inferior To Your High School Peers
8. Being A Little Too Aggressive
Can we just agree that teenagers have emotions about as fleeting as the weather? (I feel the pain of writing that statement. Ugh.) I guess it isn't wrong, because hormones are not nice, let us be clear. I hate that I make those that I love to feel like I don't love them some days. I apologize for not being expressive or empathetic enough.
9. Trying To Grow Up
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the statements, "Grow up" or "You are still a child!" and their variations. I don't think that I'm trying to grow up to fast, I make a lot of stupid mistakes that I wouldn't be able to make if I was a real adult, let's be real. The reality of being alone once I'm an adult scares me. The only people that older people stay around are their close and extended families.
10. Feeling Lonely
I'm not really lonely to begin with, and I don't think I ever really have been. It seems that I'm only ever lonely in my head. Even if I wish to be skeptical of how other people treat me, they always come out to support me and lend me a hand. When I'm having a rough patch, my peers will sometimes just jump out of nowhere and help me through it. Even seeing someone else being happy makes me feel happy.
That was a little depressing, I'm sure, but I have hope in myself and in others to get past these roadblocks in their personalities. No matter what, you are not alone, and there will always be someone who will be around to extend you their hand. Especially now more than ever, because for some of us, dolescence this will be one of the most confusing and anxiety infused times, but there are people to help.
If there is anything I have learned from this age, it is that there are more people who support and respect me than I think there are.
