As a seventeen year old girl, navigating life, friendships, relationships and the daunting prospect of the future is terrifying yet exciting. We are often told, especially as girls, that we won't have figured out much by the ripe age of seventeen and our voices are often dismissed due to the fact we are ‘still growing’ or ‘still learning’. But I think society doubts how many experiences, life lessons, and how much love and hatred is packed into these crucial years of our lives and what we have already come to learn.
I am however not delusional; I know I have only experienced a fraction of the life set to unravel ahead of me, but with these seventeen years I have lived and learned through, I have grown and developed into someone I am learning to love completely.
Something I believe will resonate with many of you is the personal growth that I undertook throughout quarantine and into the following months. I proudly mark an aspect of my personal growth in the nature of my political compass where, throughout the months of lockdown, having more time to learn and research politics (ahead of starting politics a-level), my spot surged further and further into the bottom left quadrant.
As this is only a trivial measure of my growth, it is reflected more compellingly in me no longer recognising myself for what I believed in a mere 9 months ago. To see my values morph so rapidly excites and motivates me. Not to mention the prospect of this continued growth and bettering of myself in all aspects of my life in the months and years to come.
However, being the best version of yourself or working hard to become the person you THINK you need to be isn’t easy. I spend a large chunk of my time in my bedroom with the infamous pink LEDS on, Phoebe Bridgers blasting, sat on my bed overthinking my previous mistakes, conversations I regret having or not having, and the people I wish I had told I loved. Checking yet another cross off on my monthly cry chart - a great but disturbing visual to have pinned to your wall - I realise life really isn’t that easy. But to feel is so crucial, because to experience the deepest heartache means you can also feel boundlessly alive and happy.
With that I remember all the good times. The late nights dancing carelessly on the beach, the feeling of their heart beating rapidly under my head, and the happiness that radiated from a room packed full of friends singing in unison to Tounge Tied.
Being a teenager is difficult, but not in the way we are told by those our senior. For me it’s in the intensity of the emotions I feel and the desire to live life to the fullest. It's the balancing of school work, friendships, relationships and in the discovery of who I am and who I want to become.
Imi Dobber, Year 12
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