Growing Up: One for the Teens
Growing up is a fact of life, but it’s not always easy. Your teenage years and early twenties are often the most up-and-down years of your life, with pressures amounting from personal change, employment, relationships and more. You will experience many different emotions and situations during this time, some bad and some great. The important thing to remember is that you have the power to shape the direction of your life, and it is up to you to do this while you are young and have your whole future ahead of you.
Direction
No one expects you to have a clear sense of direction when you’re in high school. Some people do, some people don’t – that doesn’t mean either is right or wrong. Figuring out what you want to do with your life might not come to you until you are well into your twenties. Don’t stress about it – the journey to self-realisation is an important learning process. You get to connect with yourself, discover what you love most, what kind of person you are and where you foresee yourself going. Don’t leave high school behind thinking you should know immediately what job you’re going to have in ten years’ time. It doesn’t work like that. If you leave school without a clue of what to do, get a job, save your penny’s and go overseas. Travelling enhances your sense of independence and broadens the mind in a way that no other experience can. Remember that you don’t need to have everything sorted when you’re young. You will take wrong turns, but that is all part of the experience of growing up and discovering yourself. Embrace the change!
Love
Relationships will come and go throughout your young years – friends, partners, family. You will probably experience at least one breakup, which will change your perceptions and help you grow as a person. Breakups can feel like the absolute worst thing in the world, but they are also valuable because they allow you to mature and gain a sense of what you are really looking for in a romantic relationship. When a breakup is fresh you might feel like you wish you had never met that person at all. Thought you can’t see it at the time, know that each and every person who walks into our lives can teach us something, whether we realise it or not. Maybe it was a hurtful relationships, so you learn to be more careful and to stand up for yourself. Maybe you were hurtful, so you realise you need to change your actions. Maybe you just became too absorbed too quickly, and understand now that you need to put yourself and your life first. Don’t wish things away that you can’t. Appreciate the lessons and experiences you have been given from this person. It hurts, but sometimes painful memories are the most beautiful.
Five Things to Tell Your Younger Self
If, like me, you are no longer in your twenties, there may be a few things you would tell yourself as a young adult. Here’s my list – what’s yours?
- Everything will work out eventually. It certainly won’t seem like it while everything is topsey-turvey and upside-down, but one way or another, it will. One day when you’re in your thirties living life you will suddenly look back and say, “oh! Here I am. Right where I’m supposed to be.”
- Follow your passions. Don’t stop dreaming or doing what you love because it’s scary. Life is far too short to settle for safety. Do what you enjoy, do what excites you, and do what you are good at. Understand that we are on this Earth to enjoy our time. Happiness must be an imperative.
- You can do anything, if you believe. I was lucky enough to realise early on that if I put my mind to it and believed in my power to create change, I could actually do just that. Once you are aware of your capabilities, the world is your oyster. You can go anywhere, create anything and be anyone.
- Don’t let good people slip out of your life. You’ll get busier and busier as you move into your twenties, and finding time to catch up with friends becomes much harder. Hold onto your good friends and don’t let go. You don’t need lots of friends in life, but having a handful of close ones who will be there for you through thick and thin is crucial. Treat them with respect and love, and don’t give up.
- You are stronger than you think. You will go through tough times during these years – no doubt. But you will get through them, no matter how badly they seem. Pain is a beautiful thing, because it opens our eyes to the reality of life. When you think back to those dark days, you will be thankful because they helped turn you into the strong, capable person you are today.
