Why I Like Being a Teenager: a Time Filled with Joy and Frustrations

Hello fellow students, welcome to radio station. I am Jun Heng, host for this podcast today. So, let's go right into today's topic. Being a teenager has its fair share of joy and frustration, I'm sure all of you would agree to this sentence. Do you sometimes feel that your parents are being too overprotective of you even though you are already teenagers? Are you finally getting more freedom as you grow older? Here I will share why I like being a teenager. In the essay I will explore why it is a time of different delights and frustrations and what we can learn from them so stayed tuned to hear more!

The time of adolescence is a delightful yet frustrating period for teenagers. As teenagers, it is the time of boundless energy where we believe we can conquer anything in our path. However, adolescence is a transition from childhood to adulthood, thus teenage years bring about many changes, evident in the physical and mental maturation of a teenager. As such, there are many delights and frustrations of being a teenager.

Finding a Joy of Becoming a Teenager!

Firstly, let's start on a happier note and talk about the joys of being a teenager. As you are still a teen, your parents would give you an allowance, and you can buy whatever you want. Isn't that wonderful? Furthermore, you would begin to experience life without your parents restricting what you are doing, what every child would dream of getting. No more scolding for eating too much junk food. No more “Have you done your homework?” questions. You finally have freedom. As teenagers, your parents expect you to finally manage things by yourself without their constant reminders. Seems fun right? At the start, many teenagers would be in cloud nine, thinking of all the things that they could do without their parents' control. They can finally experience the joys of becoming a teenager.

However, I feel that it is more than that. Becoming a teenager and finally getting freedom is not only about being able to do anything you want, but part of the process of growing up. As the wise Ghani once said, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” When our parents give us freedom, it is for us to learn and develop into a mature grown-up, knowing what is wrong or right and how to act appropriately in different situations. It is so that we can learn from mistakes that we make and cultivate ourselves into better people. Furthermore, our parents cannot be there for us all the times and they give us freedom so that we would know how to survive in the real world by ourselves and learn to make our own choices.

Frustrations We are Facing With All the Time 

Now, let's talk about the frustrations of being a teenager. Firstly, peer pressure. All of you are bound to experience this in your life. It is the influence of other people around you, causing you to change yourself. Peer pressure can be both positive or negative, and the one that we should all avoid are the negative pressure given by our classmates. For example, there is a group of kids that are deemed cool. One day, they introduced you to smoking and encouraged you to do so. You know that it is wrong to do it at such a young age but do it anyway. Why? The answer is simple, you want to join them and be labelled as the cool ones, and you don’t want to be known as a coward for not daring to smoke.

Peer pressure is part of the process of learning to grow up. Therefore, it is in a way good for you even though frustrating. This is because it teaches you to make the right decision even if everyone is doing the opposite. As the saying goes, two wrong don’t make a right. Instead of following what everyone is doing, we should reflect on the consequences of our actions before making our decision on what to do. The great Rihanna once said, “You may never be good enough for everyone, but you will always be the best for somebody.” We should not be bothered about what others think about us and be ourselves. If everyone keeps this mindset, peer pressure wouldn’t be frustrating anymore.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our teenage years are filled with both joys and frustrations. It is a time for us to identify who we are and understand the real world. In the process of growing up, we would learn how to overcome different obstacles like peer pressure and experience freedom for the first time. It is a turning point in our lives is a vital part in a person's growth, maturity, success and happiness. I like being a teenager because it is the foundation of emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual health.