Nearing my 20th birthday in only a month, I'm becoming extremely sentimental about my adolescent years, that almost seemed to stretch for several centuries. Here are five stresses every teenager deals with:
1. Peer Pressure
First and foremost, we've all heard that friendships are vital to being a functioning human being. Friends are as important to our psychological status as being assured we have a roof over our head and food to eat each night. Ergo, maintaining friends in late-middle school/high school can come with intense pressure. Often teenagers will compromise values to feel wanted by their peers. For instance, many high school students begin experimenting with drugs, alcohol and other compromising activities as a group. Most of the time, the goal is to rope in lots of peers and experiment together and create fond teenage memories. If one exempted themselves, they'd be shunned and spoken about in a harsh way to others, destroying their stature among peers. Unfortunately, many teenagers choose the easy way out, would rather not destroy their entire high school reputation, and give in to peer pressures. They may gain many peers and their trust, but things can become problematic in their personal and family lives.
2. Personal Life
We've all experienced it. The adolescent years are the time in our lives when hormones begin to drastically change our minds and bodies, inside and out, respectively. It is extremely common for teens to begin portraying affection for one another in a time where we are changing most and are confused. This is a recipe for relationship issues, mostly for older teenagers, where sex and serious relationships get in the mix. Often times, this can affect their performance in school, work, extracurricular activities, and even in home life. It's recommended that boundaries are implemented in every relationship so as not to affect their lives outside of said relationship, yet it is rare to find high school students responsibly handling their personal and academic lives. This causes a great deal of anxiety and stress among students.
3. Anxiety
Unfortunately, anxiety is a great source of stress that many teenagers don't even realize they deal with. Anxiety can reveal itself in infinity ways, but is prevalent when students take tests and perform in extracurricular activities, especially around peers, coaches, and teachers. Anxiety can also affect a person's home life and social engagements, often creating a nervousness around peers and especially those they have affection for. One of the worst aspects of anxiety is how it intensifies if not dealt with properly, and could seep its way through every crevice of our daily lives. It can be devastating.
4. Schooling
Education between late-middle school and high school can be an immense source of pressure for students, especially those who wish to attend a University of their choice or, in many cases, college in general. At an early age, we're taught that grades are everything and that if we didn't get an A, we failed the course and we wouldn't 'make it' for the entirety of our lives, however this is a ridiculous notion and it's quite sad we've been conditioned to attain this train of thought. Moreover, more times than not, parents and teachers also apply pressure on the student to make decent grades, whether it is the instructor's style of teaching, or the parents implementing discipline.
5. Professional Life
Last but not least, toward the end of high school, a majority of students begin to start their professional lives and attain a part-time job to sustain themselves through either their extracurricular activity and/or social life. More often than not, this is a huge scheduling affair most students struggle to balance between their schooling, extracurricular activity and work schedule. This can put tension on the student, especially during their last year in high school, trying to balance every test, deadline and submission to college, and the most pressuring aspect of having a part-time job in high school, is the need for one. Students will tend to forget about school and focus on making money, which can develop into a debilitating habit.
