What Were Your Teenage Years Like?

[Adeptly_Inept]

I am due to turn 19 this August, and am beginning to have regrets about my teenage years which, upon looking back, weren't much fun. I have never been able to maintain any meaningful friendships therefore spending much time on my own instead of being immersed in normal teenage shenanigans. As an 'adult' though, it is difficult to develop relationships as I am socially immature, much to the embarrassment of my parents (and myself).

What were your experiences as a teen like? Any regrets? Any amusing stories?

 

[Mozza220559]

I remember I'd just turned 15 in January, and it was freezing and me and some mates had broke into this farm and we were in this barn, we were all smoking weed, we left to go into the town centre and I remember a man asking if I'd been smoking something when I was looking at the sweets for several minutes. it was weird though because at this time I was already into The Smiths and Morrissey but loved hip hop and was quite extrovert, when I left school though I lost contact with them and all, I got more into books and illustration and films so didn't go out that much. Now from what I've seen on facebook they've either all got kids or are jobless and take drugs.

 

[Adeptly_Inept]

I remember I'd just turned 15 in January, and it was freezing and me and some mates had broke into this farm and we were in this barn, we were all smoking weed, we left to go into the town centre and I remember a man asking if I'd been smoking something when I was looking at the sweets for several minutes. it was weird though because at this time I was already into The Smiths and Morrissey but loved hip hop and was quite extrovert, when I left school though I lost contact with them and all, I got more into books and illustration and films so didn't go out that much. Now from what I've seen on facebook they've either all got kids or are jobless and take drugs.

Looks like you were the lucky one then!

 

[Emil]

My teen years were much like yours.

How do I feel about the past?
Others conquered love - but I ran
I sat in my room and I drew up a plan
But plans can fall through
As so often they do
And time is against me now

 

[the raytownian]

I don't really feel that I ever had a youth of any description.

 

[Adeptly_Inept]

My teen years were much like yours.

How do I feel about the past?
Others conquered love - but I ran
I sat in my room and I drew up a plan
But plans can fall through
As so often they do
And time is against me now

Those lyrics truly saved my life. Thanks for reminding me of them!

I don't really feel that I ever had a youth of any description.

 

[Emil]

Those lyrics truly saved my life. Thanks for reminding me of them!

My too.

 

[Librarian On Fire]

I am due to turn 19 this August, and am beginning to have regrets about my teenage years which, upon looking back, weren't much fun. I have never been able to maintain any meaningful friendships therefore spending much time on my own instead of being immersed in normal teenage shenanigans. As an 'adult' though, it is difficult to develop relationships as I am socially immature, much to the embarrassment of my parents (and myself).

What were your experiences as a teen like? Any regrets? Any amusing stories?

No one at the age of 19 should start reflecting on their missed youth. When you attend more funerals than weddings. Delete names from address books, then it's time to start reflecting. Right now don't worry. Some people mature socially later in life (I did). Others can be old before their time. You have youth, beauty and time. If you truly like yourself (in a good way) then loneliness will only visit you occasionally. Even as a adult friendships are hard to form. If not harder. Learn never to compare you life to others and you should be ok. Dress well. Eat well and be nice to others and you'll do ok.

 

[Adeptly_Inept]

No one at the age of 19 should start reflecting on their missed youth. When you attend more funerals than weddings. Delete names from address books, then it's time to start reflecting. Right now don't worry. Some people mature socially later in life (I did). Others can be old before their time. You have youth, beauty and time. If you truly like yourself (in a good way) then loneliness will only visit you occasionally. Even as a adult friendships are hard to form. If not harder. Learn never to compare you life to others and you should be ok. Dress well. Eat well and be nice to others and you'll do ok.

Thanks for this.
It's got to the point where people can't stand to be around me. Something needs to change.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

My entire high school career was spent in the dark room. My photography teacher Mr. Benoit recognized that some people didn't fit in with the crowd and he kept it open for lunch. I would eat in the classroom and develop pictures and play music and stay away from people. A friend and I bought an enlarger from a widow in newport beach and we built our own working dark room and I spent every waking moment in our converted tack room dark room in the canyon. Sadly I don't have a lot of proof of my work because it got destroyed in arguments with the person who made me become an adult too fast. Away from him now I have regressed back into teen mode to recapture my lost years and my new dark room is the internet.

 

[Skylarker]

My teenage years sucked. But there were some aspects that I wouldn't trade for anything, like all the music I was able to listen to. I guess that's the best thing about being a teenager; all the time you have.

My 20s were actually worse. I really like my 30s; particularly the last half. I'd say I feel like I am a completely different person than I was when I turned 30.

I think age does a lot for you; to a point. I think that even though your body degrades, your mind and spirit get stronger and things bother you less and you feel more comfortable with yourself. Its not so much that I've become more confident; I just care about rejection less.

I wouldn't go back to my teen years for a million bucks, but I value them as important.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

I spent the entire time in a relationship which was a big mistake in hindsight. The thing about being young though is it's all about making mistakes but at the time everything feels so vital and often desperate too, for me anyway. When people say, "If I knew then what I know now", that's absolutely true of me but things worked out well enough and I found a happy place. If I did it all again I'd spend less time trying to fit in, less time thinking that I had to be in love, less time worrying about f*** all, less time listening to people who weren't always offering good advice and work wise I'd have gone down the route of doing something I was passionate about and finding a way to make it pay.

You can feel stifled a bit when you're young, I think it's because we're taught to be so aspirational. There's nothing wrong with that but it makes it hard to find the contentment you need to be happy.

 

[Madcap]

Awkwardness...incredible loneliness...caving to peer pressure...experimenting with drugs...experimenting with sex...friends changing in unlikeable ways...clueless parents...boredom...cheap paperbacks and mixtapes (a bit of age showing, heh)...junk food...lots of junk food...late night walks or rides to nowhere...binge drinking...wasting time...delusions of grandeur...working for low wages...more binge drinking...discovering new pop culture idols...and loving every moment of it all.

 

[nothappynotsad]

I used to work for an activist group and we had a training seminar one day and one of the things they taught us was that we should go limp while being detained... so that it takes more manpower to load you up. That was what my teenage years were like. I was so cripplingly depressed, I went limp to the world while everyone and everything tried and tried to drag me out of it. I spent my time skipping school and drinking until i woke up with my face in a heap of my own (ouch) hot cheetos vomit. I hated my family, my peers, and my therapist. I am honestly amazed that I survived, despite how self destructive I was determined to be. I remember feeling horribly awakward. I mean, not the cute MTV idea of awkward, but truly awkward. My skin crawled because of how uncomfortable i felt in my own body. I isolated myself completely and cut all friends out of my life for years. I was expelled from 2 religious schools and continued to spiral out of control until i was about 22, when the most insane person I've ever met managed to make me feel like a human being, for the first time in a long time.

 

[nothappynotsad]

The most insane meaning VH? I wish you both a long and happy life together.

Haha, yeah. Thank you, madcap. That's very sweet of you.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

when my teen years started, late 85, I had hair, believed I was destined for greatness(in some way) , wanted to go to UCLA for college and was a virgin
by the time of late 92, my hair was not going to ever really come back, I'd killed people, was no longer a virgin and was enrolled in UCLA
so yeah, a lot happened from 13 and 19, much of it determining my identity for a long time
but the main thing I remember is not all the up and downs, but the music, that has endured

 

[Adeptly_Inept]

Wow, some of you have really been through a lot. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Deleted member 1074]

I used to work for an activist group and we had a training seminar one day and one of the things they taught us was that we should go limp while being detained... so that it takes more manpower to load you up. That was what my teenage years were like. I was so cripplingly depressed, I went limp to the world while everyone and everything tried and tried to drag me out of it. I spent my time skipping school and drinking until i woke up with my face in a heap of my own (ouch) hot cheetos vomit. I hated my family, my peers, and my therapist. I am honestly amazed that I survived, despite how self destructive I was determined to be. I remember feeling horribly awakward. I mean, not the cute MTV idea of awkward, but truly awkward. My skin crawled because of how uncomfortable i felt in my own body. I isolated myself completely and cut all friends out of my life for years. I was expelled from 2 religious schools and continued to spiral out of control until i was about 22, when the most insane person I've ever met managed to make me feel like a human being, for the first time in a long time.

The most insane meaning VH? I wish you both a long and happy life together.

I'm not insane...and if I were, I certainly wouldn't be the most insane person she's ever met...especially considering we just read how one of her old friends decided to stab his girlfriend multiple times and then she, while in the hospital, decided to have a Facebook war with his profile while he was in jail.