I’m four weeks into sophomore year and I already feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. And I just can’t stop asking myself: Why was I so excited to grow up?
As kids, everyone wants nothing more than to be a teenager with freedom and independence, hanging out with friends every weekend and finally being able to drive. Or at least, that’s what I had imagined.

Now, all I want is to be a 5 year old again, without any real worries. Back then, my biggest source of stress was the fact that I didn’t own any skin-colored crayons, so all the people in my drawings ended up looking like spray tans gone wrong.

Fast forward ten years, and crayons are the least of my worries. Between homework, tests, trying to get enough sleep, and having panic attacks over the fact that I can’t seem to manage all these things, creativeness isn’t something I’ve really been able to grasp lately. And if I can’t be creative, then I’m just another tired teenager who sleeps too much, eats too little, and has permanent bags under my eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great things that come from growing up. Now that I’m a decade and a half years old, I can drink heavily caffeinated beverages, soon I’ll be able to drive, and… well, that’s sort of it.

A lot of teens say that growing up gives them more freedom and independence, but is that really all that great? Sure, I can go out alone with friends and can make decisions by myself, but often times I regret whatever decision I made, and have to accept the consequence. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do to go back to a time when big decisions were made for me by my parents.

Also, I’ve heard a lot about how the number of teenagers developing mental illnesses is increasing every year, and it honestly doesn’t surprise me. According to psychologist Robert Leahy, an average high schooler’s anxiety levels nowadays are the same as those of a mental patient in the 1950s.
And if that isn’t enough, the number of teens with eating disorders has been increasing every decade since the 1950s. It’s no doubt that these statistics are the product of increased responsibility put on teens, and if that doesn’t prove that something needs to change, I don’t know what will. It’s like growing up is the worst thing that can happen to a person.

It wasn’t always like this. Fifty years ago, getting into a good college was about having good grades and some extracurricular activities. Now, you have to maintain an above average GPA while participating in multiple extracurricular activities and doing hundreds of hours of community service. At this rate, my grandkids are going to have visit the moon and donate a couple limbs just to get into a decent university.

Should growing up really entail all this? Should becoming a teenager be an automatic pitfall into depression, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders because teens feel as though they’ve lost all control over their life? Personally, I think the answer is no, like any other sane person would agree. Growing up should be a time when teens are encouraged to express themselves so that they can find out who they really are, and doing that would be a heck of a lot easier if all they weren’t bombarded with all these responsibilities and expectations.

So, in short, I just have one thing to say: Growing up sucks.