Doing it again

Last night, I watched Teenagers Most Embarrassing Bodies (yep, sometimes I like to really enhance my mind with good cultural things like that). At the beginning, various people in the program, adults and teenagers, spoke about how hard it is being a teenager. My first reaction was something like, “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad for me.” And then I thought about it a bit more. The truth is I’m glad I don’t have to be a teenager again, though if I did, I hope that I could take with me an adult perspective and hindsight. You know, awareness of things like not needing to envy (even just a bit!) that popular girl because when we all leave the small pond that is school, life becomes a slightly more level playing field where there’s a lot more diversity and opportunity to find your niche. Things like loving my then-slimmer body instead of worrying about it being perfect because I’ll probably never again be able to eat that much and exercise that little and maintain that weight. Things like not caring that the boy I like at the time doesn’t want to talk to me or doesn’t like me back because one day (as it happened, a day when I was still a teenager) I’ll meet the perfect guy for me and all those teenage crushes will fade in comparison. Things like enjoying spending time with my family and really savouring being together because one day we’ll all be spread out and times together will be far too rare. Things like the simplicity of life when I didn’t have to worry about paying bills or forging a career or getting onto the housing ladder. And things like really appreciating the good friends I had then who loved me despite knowing my worst bits, and who still love me enough to pick up where we left off even when we’re not in touch for months at a time. Despite the tough bits, I had many blessings and good moments during my teenage years.