What I enjoy most about being a teenager

What do I enjoy most being a teenager?
We never really grow up from teenage, we just simply learn to behave.
-Bryan White

And maybe that is why I often hear people crib about missing their teenage. Maybe this freedom to behave as randomly as possible is what makes teenage worth so much. This insecurity, melodramatic moments, arrogance, angst and naivety is what that brings the best out of you. For me, the best thing about teenage is your liberty to commit mistakes. You are neither a kid avoiding risks nor an adult afraid of ruining your reputation. You are just a teen, not afraid of making a complete fool out of yourself. You are bound to make mistakes. You are meant to fall, right on your face and to get up and move on as if nothing happened. These efforts is what best describes teenage. The rebellious attitude, interpreting that the whole world is against you, the time when you anticipate everything to work according to your will is a part and parcel of adolescence. But the shocker? The shocker is that deep down we know that we are wrong. But the egoistic teens that we are, never accept our faults. These utter silliness and bizarreness is what I love about my teen life. Teenage for me was the time when I started appreciating and complimenting myself. You really start loving the tiniest bit of you. You start realizing that, in the end it’s what you make out of yourselves that truly defines you. You stop listening to what people have to say and start listening to your heart. You stop following someone else’s path and start daring to tread your own path. You change from mere followers to dreamers and achievers. This very impulse of teenage is what keeps your life going. We teenagers are completely unpredictable. We like to keep everybody on their toes. We may want our parents to stay out our lives first thing in the morning and then feel like crying on their shoulders by evening. We may be the reluctant guests at a function and then the showstopper at a party. We can be the best of friends with someone and the worst of the enemies with the same person. We may decide to start earning our hard-earned money and be dependent and then find ourselves fighting for some more pocket-money. This instability, indecisiveness and being completely messed up is what defines teenage for me. We are the trend makers. We may even dress up in hippiest possible manner. We rule the music, movie, technological and linguistic trends. Unlike adults, we don’t have to worry whether the society would accept them. Our intensity and passion about everything helps us to stand apart from everyone else. We have a million social engagements and we manage to get the most of them, balancing them along with our academics, something that adults find it difficult to handle. Not a day goes by that there isn’t some drama that needs the edge taken off of or some amazing new thing that needs a little celebration. ‘Youth is the trustee of prosperity.’ The world is our oyster. We accept miracles in the weirdest of situations. We are invincible. We are all kind of excited, sometimes in a scary way. Teenage is actually my new birth which gave me a new identity. Our crazy, innocent, naive, hopeful view of the world often rubs off on the society. And thus, my teenage is all about fun, taking risks, loving and living my life to the fullest. All these memories are going to stay with me forever. I am going to miss every bit of it for times to come.
- Anjana Ashokkumar,
Powai English High School.