Being a teen again?

Biblioklept
Biblioklept Online Community Member Posts: 568 Trailblazing

Did you enjoy your teen years?? I was thinking of a question for the 'would you rather' thread and it got me thinking about being a teenager.

I quite liked my teen years but never understood why people always said they'd be the best years of my life (or some similar idiom) but most people seem to hate their teen years and yes the worries seem silly now as an adult but it's also a really stressful time??

So did you enjoy being a teen?? Would you go back to that point in your life?

Comments

  • Biblioklept
    Biblioklept Online Community Member Posts: 568 Trailblazing

    Did you enjoy your teen years?? I was thinking of a question for the 'would you rather' thread and it got me thinking about being a teenager.

    I quite liked my teen years but never understood why people always said they'd be the best years of my life (or some similar idiom) but most people seem to hate their teen years and yes the worries seem silly now as an adult but it's also a really stressful time??

    So did you enjoy being a teen?? Would you go back to that point in your life?

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 5,595 Championing

    No, I didn't like being a teen, too much change that I never did cope with.

    I would like to do it all over again…but in a different body, not this one! If I had to do it again in the same body with the same conditions, I don't think I would done much differently or liked it any more.

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 3,562 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists
    edited January 26

    I liked being 17 and 18 so I would go back to that age but you couldn't pay me to be 13-16 years old again @Biblioklept!!

    I enjoyed college but I didn't like school which is the main reason why I wouldn't go back to those ages,

    I feel the same as you as I don't fully understand why people say they're the best years of your life either. I feel like maybe it's to do with the assumption of no responsibilities and few worries and the general care-free stereotype associated with teenagers.

    What has been your favourite age?

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 7,610 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    I would love to try being a teen again, but only if I could guarantee I wouldn't face the health issues I faced at that time. If I could do more of the 'typical' teen experiences, then I'd definitely like to go back and fill in some gaps and see what it was like. I'm sure it would come with it's fair share of stresses though, just different ones than I faced being unwell.

    But I'm not sure I'd like to be a teen in the present day. What teens face today feels pretty overwhelming to me!

  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 8,969 Championing

    I suffered from age 13 i had undiagnosed pmdd i was extremely unhappy also undiagnosed adhd the works when I remember i feel so sorry for me makes me relize how much pain and trauma ive carried and I still am I was put in care at age of 12ish had to learn to survive some pretty horrible people and situations

  • Amberpearl
    Amberpearl Online Community Member Posts: 3,455 Championing

    How horrible for you

    I'm. An only child

    I was lonely no freinds

    Shy and bullied

    I was a tall. Kid too

    I was 5ft 11 aged 12 years

  • Adrian_Scope
    Adrian_Scope Posts: 14,149 Online Community Programme Lead

    My mid-teens were pretty tricky with ill health and such, but when I look back I think I started really coming into my own in my late teens and I quite enjoyed that 17-19 period for the growth and freedom I had. I'd give that period a go again and make better use of it, for sure!

    Would you rather be a teenager in the time period where you actually were a teenager or in 2026 with the way society might be now?

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 2,828 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Ooh I like that question @Adrian_Scope. It was good being a teenager back in the early 2000s as there wasn't social media and we weren't always contactable by our phones. But, to be really shallow, I wish I had better access to clothes. We all used to dress in Adidas bottoms and jumpers, whereas now there are so many more options. Primark has come a very long way!

  • Adrian_Scope
    Adrian_Scope Posts: 14,149 Online Community Programme Lead

    I think the lack of social media and camera phones wins the day for me. Me and my friends did so much stupid (but harmless) stuff in the early 2000s that we probably never would have done if there was a risk of that ending up permanently online.

    Talking about clothes now though has made me realise I haven't actually changed the way I dress since those days. Still all hoodies and joggers for me. Oops!

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 7,610 Scope Online Community Coordinator
    edited January 26

    I'd definitely pick to go back to the time when I was actually a teenager rather than now. It was when internet was (in my opinion!) just coming into its own and that was so much fun at the time.

    I'd love to re-experience seeing early Youtube and all the ridiculous comedy websites that cropped up! The creativity and silliness was brilliant!

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 2,828 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Yeah I remember taking pictures with a film camera and getting it developed at the chemist. It was such an effort that every picture needed to be worth it! My friend and I did a whole silly photoshoot where we dressed up in different outfits, I need to try and find them.

    There's no harm in keeping your style but a makeover is always fun! I must say I've gone back to joggers and jumpers, just not sporty ones.

  • vikingqueen
    vikingqueen Scope Member Posts: 1,926 Championing

    I was a teenager in the 70's… no phones, no social media so no record of anything. Got away with all sorts. Those were the days…

    Would I like to do it all again, not a chance..

  • Chris75_
    Chris75_ Online Community Member Posts: 4,444 Championing

    Life seems incredibly long. This isn't a particularly cheerful outlook, but i find 50 much more to my liking, and shudder at the thought of staring down the barrel at another 60 or 70 years.

    Of course, I didn't think those sort of thoughts back then, but you can't view life through a child's eyes from here. 👴

  • Catherine21
    Catherine21 Posts: 8,969 Championing

    Same only child i was extremely shy also then had to pretend to be strong im really still shy are you still shy

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 3,562 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists

    I wouldn't want to be a teenager in the present day!!

  • Amberpearl
    Amberpearl Online Community Member Posts: 3,455 Championing

    Was no social media or mobile phones or computer s when I was a teenager

    I. Spend my weekends at the local horse riding school helping out animals treat you better that people

  • Amberpearl
    Amberpearl Online Community Member Posts: 3,455 Championing

    Yes I. Am

    I'd always run away from problems rather than face them

  • onmylonesome
    onmylonesome Online Community Member Posts: 410 Empowering

    I was a bit of a tearaway in my teens, always in trouble with the boys in blue and schools so much so that my parents packed me off to boarding school for 3 years.

    Although I enjoyed my teen years I wouldn't like to go through it all again!

  • PixelMist
    PixelMist Online Community Member Posts: 39 Connected

    Mum and dad might disagree but I was an amazing teen so I would deffo do that again as long as I could take Primark and Shine back with me!! 🤣

    What did you have when you were a teenager that you wish you had now?

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 2,828 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Oh wow @onmylonesome! I hope you're back on the straight and narrow now 😉

    Yes @PixelMist, I'd have current Primark and Shein! I swear we all used to shop at the market and at random clothes shops that sold the most flammable outfits ever known 😂 I can't think of what else I'd like to have. It was a simpler time in the 90s and I miss it.