An insider's perspective on being a teen

Being a teen involves a mish-mash of experiences coupled with a kaleidoscope of emotions as Olivia Atkinson has realised. Photo / Thinkstock

No one said it was easy being a teenager. 18-year-old student Olivia Atkinson shares the perils and pluses of those all-important years.

Thirteen is more than just a number. It is the age we enter an entirely new realm of life. We wave goodbye to our childhood and welcome, although sometimes reluctantly, our teenage years. Face this with a sense of excitement and anticipation, or dread the next six years ahead, there is no doubt that being a teenager is a journey and for most of us, a bumpy ride.

I once attempted to convince myself that I would not go through the process. The process, in my eyes, encompassed all elements that made 13-to-19-year-olds a unique tribe. It was the transition from a carefree kid to a self-conscious emotional wreck. If I allowed the process into my life then I would become a stereotypical 14-year-old with stereotypical problems and everyone would view me in a stereotypical way.

Of course, I was just being silly. The process is and always will be inevitable. Concepts that were never given a second thought as a 12-year-old quickly became the centre of my world. Hot pink tracksuits were suddenly uncool, lips seemed naked without a bit of gloss, and boys had cooties, much to my surprise. Changes were daunting and being fired at me from every angle. I, like many, felt as though I had to cater for them. And so I knuckled down and began the process of creating Olivia 2.0.

The initial years were awkward. My mind became a camping ground for hundreds of insecurities and worries. The emotional side was generally too confusing to deal with so I focused on the controllable bits.

As a technologically savvy kid, the internet was a source of inspiration. Strangers on a screen, rather than friends and people around me, prompted the alteration of my appearance. Fashion blogs aided my desire to branch out and had me questioning why hot pink tracksuits were now a mistake. Makeup review websites let me know which lip gloss I should buy. And finally, any boy advice was available at the click of a mouse. Looking back now, these three aspects of my life still seem trivial, yet, in my early teens, they formed the underlying basis of my reinvention.

There is a well-known phrase which floats around. Something along the lines of "if you're going to make mistakes, make them now". While writing this I thought I should confirm that these words of wisdom actually exist. As with anything, I headed to Google and punched them in, the results surprised me. This "well-known" phrase isn't as well-known as I thought. After much contemplation it dawned on me that it was said by two very important people in my life - Mum and Dad. They, like many parents, frequently conjure up statements designed to make the process bearable. For the majority of the time, they weren't referring to that hot pink tracksuit.

The bombardment of change rarely gives any indication of slowing down. If you're not going through physical change then you're going through mental change. And if it's not mental then it's social. And if it's not social then it's emotional. And if you're having an off-day then it's all four. Your skin has a spaz and your thighs feel like trunks of an oak tree. Your perspective of existence will be warped coming to the conclusion that life is just too damn hard. That group of people you call mates might even decide that you can't hang out with them anymore "just because". And you've never been able to understand why Max doesn't acknowledge that your straightened hair and full face of makeup is for him.

To top it all off, you'll probably question why.

The intricacies of our teenage years will lead on to the big stuff, the important stuff. We are prepped and primed with the tools required to conquer our post-adolescent years. Eventually, one-by-one life decisions will come knocking at our doors.

Hopefully by then what we learnt as teenagers allow us to tackle them in a confident manner.