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Monday, April 13, 2020

"Youth: Our Gains and Losses " by Kristin H


     The moment you’ve been waiting for: your name is called from onstage, you raise and
walk up the steps, cheering and yelling all around you. The administration that you barely
interacted with in the past four years will clasp your hand and give you a firm shake. You walk
down their line to receive the piece of paper that defines the grades you’ve earned and the work
you've done for the past 18 years of your life. Smile to the crowd, give a little wave, and the list
goes on. That’s the end. You sit in your seat and wait for it all to end only to take a few pictures
and shuffle off into the unknown of adulthood. That’s the end of your youth. 

     According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, youth is defined as “the period
between childhood and adult age,” a subsidiary definition being “the state or quality of being
young, especially as associated with vigor, freshness, or immaturity.” The coming of age films
we’ve grown up with would have you think that youth is the fun you have prior to college,
including wild parties, hook-ups, and rebelling against your parents. Hollywood lives vicariously
through these carefree cool kids just as we do because real life isn’t a 140 minute film that ends
on the perfect moment. What is in these unattainable characters that we do not have is their
endless youth.

     To put it simply, real life has consequences. In the past two years I’ve seen many former
friends of mine become these caricatures of youth: carefree, rebellious, and draining all the life
juice they can get from every possible moment. I’ve also seen their fear of missing out grow
exponentially, making sure to record every possibly enjoyable moment they can and save it to
their Snapchat memories. I’ve seen their nicotine addictions come to fruition, their anxiety grow
so large they find themselves crying on the floor of the J-building handicap stall, and the hope in
their eyes fade as they realize that the best years of their life are over.

     Yet, these have not been the best years. The youth we hold within us is carried
throughout our lives. Many of us didn’t have the opportunity to make use of the youth we did
have because we spent so much of this short time trying to grow up or deal with circumstances
that did not allow us to enjoy the little time we had. The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral
Pediatrics published a study in 2018 that revealed lifetime diagnoses of depression and anxiety in
adolescents ages 6-17 have increased over time, increasing from 5.4% in 2003 to 8% in 2007 and
to 8.4% in 2011–2012. I was one of these children suffering from both major depressive disorder
and anxiety, and for the majority of my life I felt that the time I had lost to suffering from these
two disorders could never be gained again and I viewed myself as a lost cause in the youth
department. 

     In the past when I have brought this thought process up to the therapists I’ve had, the
answer I received was more or less the same; Those that tell you that these are the best years of
your life are lying to you. In the grand scheme of things, these past 18 or so years have made up
a small fraction of your life. The mistakes you made, the suffering you endured, the inner turmoil that comes with being a teenager ​will ​ be a fleeting memory, if that. Your youth is not confined to
these few years and you will find that it will spread throughout your long life for quite some
time. The happiness you will find in knowing yourself, in learning about the world around you, and in the love you ​will ​ find will exponentially increase the youth you now have. There is no true loss of youth that you will find in your life. Even the most draining and insufferable
circumstances will lead to your growth in heart, spirit, empathy, and mind. There is no need to
worry about these being the greatest years of your life, those years are only starting now. 


     Works Cited

Bitsko, Rebecca H., et al. “Epidemiology and Impact of Health Care Provider–Diagnosed
Anxiety and Depression Among US Children.” Journal of Developmental & Behavioral
Pediatrics, vol. 39, no. 5, 24 Apr. 2018, pp. 395–403.,
doi:10.1097/dbp.0000000000000571.

19 comments:

  1. I completely agree with you how you mentioned that these years are our "best lives" since they really are a small part of our life as a whole, and your thoughts about youth with the gains/losses are also agreeable, overall great work!

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  2. I completely agree with this that your best years are not past yet. If that were true most adults would be more depressed and unable to do much instead a better way to look at it is that your official free trial of life is ending and you are responsible for your being from now on. Overall nice piece.

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  3. I agree with you that our best years are still ahead of us. To seniors especially some of us might have thought we are missing out on our "best years" experiences like prom and grad bash, but that isn't where our experiences peak. There will be more to come in the future and this is just the first chapter. -Katera Perry

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  4. I could not agree more, this is amazing. I am a strong believer that it is on you to decide if you will have a good or bad year and to make it better, not because you are trying to live up to the standards based off of what people said. I loved how from the beginning you gave a relatable outline of what we are currently going through and how we should not feel pressured to feel something we don't. I also like dhow you provided evidence to prove your point, great piece!

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  5. I enjoyed how you redefined the word “youth”. Your closing statement is something I’ve always believed. This period of our time is truly on the beginning.

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  6. Wow! This was so powerful. I loved, loved, LOVED the growth reflected at the end! Youth is never just parties and good moments, there's reality that makes us face some tough situations. Super inspirational and very-well written piece. Good jobbb!!

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  7. Kristin yet again your words are so powerful and have a sense of beauty to them. I love how you redefined what youth is and ensured that this is only the beginning. You did an amazing job <3

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  8. I could not be more happy to read this. The way you outlook the youth has definitely changed my perception on life and the future in general. It is true, our life is barely getting started. You did such a great job adding in the most relatable parts of being a teen along with connecting your research to affecting the youth. Thank you for your inspiring words, was much needed being in quarantine!

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  9. Alejandra AmezquitaApril 21, 2020 at 7:06 PM

    You did a great job expressing your view on youth and its impact it has on individuals like yourself. Providing the statistics from The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics goes to show how many students struggle in their high school years, however, they still have so much to see. Great job!

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  10. Perfect idea and choice of satirical language for the first paragraph. It really sums up the silliness of the school system. Way to be open about a an early life struggle you had and using it to convey your message wonderfully. Your final sentence reinforces the idea that this graduation from grades 1-12 is not the end and certainly not the best years, for some, and that our lives start during adulthood.

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  11. Just from that first paragraph alone, it sends a real sense of realism and shivers down the body, that paragraph is so scary looking if you're looking from a certain point of view. It is just one part of our life that'll end up in cobwebs later anyways but in the moment it really is just a few minutes of being in the limelight for something so small. Really powerful message all around.

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  12. Just from that first paragraph alone, it sends a real sense of realism and shivers down the body, that paragraph is so scary looking if you're looking from a certain point of view. It is just one part of our life that'll end up in cobwebs later anyways but in the moment it really is just a few minutes of being in the limelight for something so small. Really powerful message all around.

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  13. I could not agree more with you view of youth, I too have thought about how it’s possible for this being our best time of our lives, but figured that it was just a moment and I’d be making more memories. This is a beautiful writing!
    Stephanie C.

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  14. Your piece did an excellent job at defining a more accurate version of youth. I agree that your youth is what you make it to be rather than something that is defined for you by others. It is also relative. For example, a 40 year old could still consider the time when they were 22 to be their time of youth. In short, youth is something that you create and it is something that will help you grow as a person. Good job!

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  15. I absolutely agree with your view of youth. I think its true that youth is not lost and that this only is just a small part of life that everyone experiences.

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  16. I really enjoyed reading this as it made me open my eyes a bit more. As someone who didn’t get the high school experience they would’ve wanted this made me realize that it’s not too late too late to make more memories and I also loved how you redefined youth for us. Amazing writing!!

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  17. I really enjoyed reading this as it made me open my eyes a bit more. As someone who didn’t get the high school experience they would’ve wanted this made me realize that it’s not too late too late to make more memories and I also loved how you redefined youth for us. Amazing writing!!

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  18. This post was so much fun to read and I really enjoyed how you defined youth to put into perspective your opening paragraph! I completely agree with your perspective on youth and many people define these as a person's "best" area of their lifetime. In my opinion I believe life should get better with every day and in order to make sure that upward trend can happen, you must have that specific mindset! Thank you for sharing!

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  19. I love that you corrected the meaning of youth and didn't confine it to a finite number of years in someone's life, because it's true! Youth is definitely not the peaking moments of one's younger years but is involved with their happiest selves, the best of themselves throughout their entire lifetime. This was incredibly well written and targets such vital ideas towards younger people, specifically us graduating seniors, to view our lives in a perspective of hope and clarity as our best years have not ended or were ruined, but have barely begun. Amazing Kristin!

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