Today is Sunday, April 8th, 2018. The significance of this date for me is that today marks my last day of being a teenager. But before I hop into my 20's, I wanted to write an article reflecting on my time as a teenager as well as share some of my hopes and dreams for my next decade.
Seven years ago on April 9th, 2011, my journey as a teenager began with an unforgettable surprise. To celebrate my 13th birthday, my family and I went to the Chicago White Sox game, and during the 2nd inning, my parents got myself a happy birthday message on the scoreboard during the birthday shoutout segment of the game. That, along with a solid White Sox victory that day laid down a great start for my teenage years. However, I also entered my teenage years falling behind on many areas. It was a month earlier when I decided to cut ties with the man I had hung out with since 3rd grade, and I knew I needed to expand myself and create a new identity. Additionally, my academic performance was solid, but was generally behind in areas such as general performance with my skills in English class. While the excitement of being a teenager and the possibilities of the future were present, I was also struggling to find a way to put things all together.
In the end of 7th grade, I started to branch out to other people, and began to hang around that group of people in my grade permanently beginning in 8th grade. While I made some great strides at becoming a dependable person with these people, I still did not have an identity amongst my peers heading into high school. Because of my rise on the social ladder in my 8th grade year, I felt like I was living my best life. However, I did not feel as if I would continue that success in high school because of some in-house drama between me and my group of 8th grade friends, causing things to fall apart at the end of the year. Additionally, I still was not at par with the standards of what I should be at with my academic performance, and my work ethic in 8th grade with my academics was not that great despite my high grades. Because of all that, I felt mixed emotions entering high school in August 2012.
However, high school was a shock to me, in both a positive and a negative way. Things did not start off too well, as my subpar work ethic from 8th grade continued and ultimately did not perform too well in my gradebook for my first semester of freshmen year. And my hopes of developing a new identity for myself did not immediately come into play as I struggled to meet new people. After that down first semester, I decided to change up my work ethic to improve my grades, and took on something I had always wanted to do, which ended up becoming one of the best decisions of my life. That was going out for my high school football team. I struggled with many things as a first-time football player, but eventually built up strength in the weight room and learned more about playing offensive line over the years to maintain my spot on the team. My time on the varsity team was very successful, despite never playing in a meaningful game situation. The team made two deep playoff runs during my junior and senior years on the team, even making the State Championship game my senior year.
My football experience may have defined my teenage years. However, it was more than my playing days that brought me satisfaction with my life beginning in my junior year of high school. As high school went on, I finally established an identity with my peers, and ultimately became great friends with some of my teammates and people in the year below me who were very well-known. I ultimately was selected to be presented on the Select 16 Turnabout Court during the annual Turnabout assembly in my junior year. And my relationships with peers kept soaring during my senior year. Because of everything I had experienced throughout my senior year of high school, I graduated high school believing that I had lived the greatest four years of my life.
That last statement really seemed true for the first 12-15 months after my high school graduation. My dream of going to a Big Ten school did not work out right away, and settled for a small Wisconsin school to begin my college career. Since I did not fit into the environment of a small school, my magic touch that led to me to so many great times with great people in high school suddenly seemed lost. As I felt more like wanting to go back to high school than moving onto the next phase. My freshmen year came to a sudden end in February, as a second surgery to remove a cyst from my body had to get removed, which prompted me to end the rest of my school year.
Before my year-ending surgery, I had decided that I would go for my dream and transfer to a Big Ten school at the conclusion of the school year. I chose the University of Iowa to be my new home for the next 3.5 years while knocked out of school. However, since I felt I had already lived my best years of my life heading into my new school, I did not feel like my new school would be an absolutely amazing experience. Additionally, uncertainties of how things would go at my new school loomed over me coming off of a rough first year of college. Today, not everything has gone my way at the University of Iowa, but it has been such an amazing experience. I attended every home football game this past fall and have met numerous people who I have shared great times with. This includes activities I have wanted to do since my teenage years began, such as tailgating, going to house parties and bars, and even doing a little bit of traveling with some friends.
Because of my experiences this year, I have decided to look at my teenage years from this perspective. I will always be thankful for my memories, and the people that shaped my teenage years to be fantastic. However, I do not want to consider my teenage years the best years of my life, because I have realized there is a ton of potential to do amazing things in my 20's. Heading forward, I have many ambitions for my 20s. From learning how to play golf and taking vacations across International borders, I will do everything I can to make my 20s absolutely unforgettable. I know nothing will come easy, but I know now that if I set my visions to accomplish what I want to do, I can make things happen for me in what I hope will be a thrilling decade of my life.
I will end things off by telling myself this. Matt, you really have surprised yourself by doing amazing things during your teenage years. But your 20's are the time you go for the gold. Don't let anything stop you from accomplishing what you really want to do during this next stage of your life.
God Bless,
The 19 years, 364 days old Matt Roleck
