Monday, October 15, 2012

Ode to the teen years.

Wow I haven't been around here in a while.


The other day, I was discussing with my friends what being a teen girl meant to them. This is what we came up with:

Being a teenage girl means being afraid. It means being afraid of dating, of sex, but it also means being afraid of not dating, of not having sex. It means being afraid of wearing too much make up, and being afraid of not wearing enough make up, afraid of being judged.
It means being terrified of the future, but also being so so so excited about it. 
It means being afraid of love, love for your family, your friends, anyone. I guess it's because love can also destroy you. 
It means constantly thinking you're not enough. You're not pretty enough. You're not skinny enough. You're not as smart, friendly, artsy, girly, funny as you thought. You're just not cool enough, there is always someone that does it better than you. 



But it also means feeling free. You're just now learning how to use that freedom, which is why it feels so great. Dude, you don't have to worry about serious responsibilities like taking care of your own children, paying a house, working and all that grown up stuff. You can just go around doing your thing. 

As you learn how to deal with your newly acquired freedom, you will probably also discover that you miss being a child. However, you're not alone so you should probably just wait around and ask some of your friends to join you for whatever you feel like, movie marathons, random dance parties, which, let's be honest, are the best things ever. 


This isn't coming completely out of nowhere, actually. I got my Rookie yearbook 1 (which you should all get real soon) on the mail the other day, and it is literally the best thing ever. It is wonderfully entertaining, clever, funny, creative, and so relatable. It speaks truly about the experience of being a teenage girl right now.

In the lines of this, I really enjoyed this other wonderful book called "The Girl Project" by Kate Engelbrecht.


Ok, bye.