Ah... It was weird!! A lot of trying to figure my own self out, which meant a lot of pretending and a lot of mimicking others who seemed to have it together themselves. Because I didn't really know who I was yet, I didn't ever let myself be myself. Does that make sense? Looking back, I think a lot of the other kids I knew were doing the same thing. I'm sure if I met with them again we'd all be surprised at how different we are now. Everything seemed so immediately catastrophic back then too, like if I did one thing wrong then it was the end of the world. It's stressful being a teenager! When all you know is school life, it's hard to imagine other kinds of experiences. I guess it's a little like Plato's allegory of the cave. I remember the first few weeks after I graduated, I was amazed that now I had every single minute of every single day to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and how this is what the rest of my life looks like. This is what the real world looks like. It immediately put so much into perspective. I think if I had been aware of this feeling as a teenager, I would have chilled out a lot more, lol
