{"id":23643,"date":"2026-08-27T09:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=23643"},"modified":"2026-08-27T09:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:56:38","slug":"becoming-the-new-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2026\/08\/27\/becoming-the-new-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming the “New Adults”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

For the past few days, I\u2019ve been sitting at my computer trying to write this blog with nothing in my head. It\u2019s not writer\u2019s block, though. You give me a prompt, and I\u2019ll give you 1,500 words minimum \u2014 I\u2019ll write a poem three pages long with a beautiful rhyme scheme too. It\u2019s not that I can\u2019t write \u2014 it\u2019s just that I\u2019ve never been given so much creative freedom before. I just wish I could have more freedom in other parts of my life too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I often find myself thinking about the dynamics of teenagers and adults when in reality, I should be doing my algebra homework. Grown folks see us teenagers as kids and treat us as such. We\u2019re obviously annoyed and we try to defend ourselves against them, usually resulting in some sort of punishment. Phone privileges taken, grounded, or even a smack somewhere. I feel like I\u2019m wrongfully persecuted sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that we <\/span>want<\/span><\/i> to be little pricks, we just want to be recognized as real people. Me and my friends see each other as individuals that can take care of ourselves while being respectful and giving a helping hand. I even see that with other teenagers I don\u2019t know. The way they watch their surroundings, use their money, and even being resistant to changes they know is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I say teenagers want to be recognized as real people, I\u2019m not saying that all<\/em> of us are being treated like garbage. What I mean is for us to be taken seriously. Our mental health, our grief, and our insecurities. Whenever I get upset, I don\u2019t want to be called sensitive, emotional, or hormonal \u2014 and if I do<\/em> get upset, I don\u2019t want anyone mad at <\/span>me <\/span><\/i>for having emotions. That\u2019s so belittling.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was 13, I had to process grief \u2014 alone. It had hit me like a freight train, no warning, no goodbyes. I had lost my dog who had grown up with me and was my best friend. I’m not sure how I did it, but I got up the very next day and went to school like nothing had happened that Sunday morning. If I cried, I\u2019d be called weak. If I tried to isolate myself, I would be perceived as disrespectful or rude. <\/span><\/p>\n

This obviously affected my mental health negatively. I was lonely and social media told me everyone was doing better than me. They had more money, clearer skin, healthy\/long hair, a nice body, and even the love of their life. Everything I had been wanting or wasn\u2019t even aware that would be essential to me later in life was being presented to me and left me feeling humiliated. I grew insecure, anxious, and easily provoked overtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know the people reading this can definitely relate to the feeling of being insecure or anxious. I know my audience may have been in a situation where they were spoken for or talked at instead of talked to. Which is why I thought of writing this blog.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to bash people with a fully developed frontal lobe but cut us some slack. We\u2019re not asking for a million dollars, we just want full independence, freedom to express ourselves and trust that we\u2019ll be okay on our own. If someone spoke for an adult even though they are capable to talk themselves, the adult would grow frustrated and eventually lash out \u2014 it’s no different from people in adolescence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before I end this blog, I just wanted to add that I feel like we live in a Peanuts parody \u2014 me and other people my age. For those of you who don\u2019t know, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re all familiar with Snoopy and Charlie Brown from your childhoods \u2014The beagle who can literally do anything and his bald-headed owner.<\/span><\/p>\n

I say that we live in a Peanuts parody because the children are the main characters of the show, not the adults. The kids get to control the atmosphere and plot while the adults are in the background. Speaking of the adults in Peanuts, they sound like trombones or some kind of brass instrument whenever they speak and I think that really supports the point of the show, which is giving kids their own voice, space to exist and time to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past few days, I\u2019ve been sitting at my computer trying to write this blog with nothing in my head. It\u2019s not writer\u2019s block, though. You give me a prompt, and I\u2019ll give you 1,500 words minimum \u2014 I\u2019ll write a poem three pages long with a beautiful rhyme scheme too. It\u2019s not that … Continue reading “Becoming the “New Adults””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23643"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23718,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23643\/revisions\/23718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}