☰
☰
It’s not just you, it’s not just me, it’s everyone. When we’re teenagers, we’re full of energy and a strange confidence that’s completely independent of our insecurities. We’re confident we know better than our parents and other adults because there’s no way they know what we’re going through, and the truth is that they knew exactly what we were going through.
Because they’ve been through the same years. They made the same mistakes, and had the same regrets. They’re equal parts cringey as they are heartbreaking.
I took a metal nail file to my front teeth so I could sharpen them. Realized what an idiot I was after a couple swipes, but I can still feel the marks I made on them 20 years later. No dentist has ever commented on it, but then I’ve never told them about it either.
My favorite book had a character who was described as having “small sharp teeth.” I guess I wanted to be more like her.
I didn’t socialise. My parents
arewere overprotective and I couldn’t even leave the house to go a block down to the local convenience store. I missed out on so much potential during puberty. It didn’t have to be wild parties, it could have been coffee with friends, or wandering around the town square, or window shopping.Instead I spent my time at home playing video games, reading books, listening to my cd player or the radio, and being a recluse.
To clarify, as an adult who has more leeway now, I still do exactly the same things, but now it’s a choice I make rather than being forced to because my parents were worried I’d be kidnapped as soon as I stepped foot out of the door.
When I was 14 and a freshman in high school I was offered fully paid tuition to the college of my choice and any production Ford vehicle in my graduating year, again fully paid for. All I had to do was maintain a 3.5 gpa for every semester. This offer was from a very wealthy family member. Long story short all I was interested in was getting laid/wasted and barely graduated due to attendance mainly. STOOPID!
https://giphy.com/gifs/dumb-4k2GclkNdxFlu
Not giving my step-mom a chance sooner. As a teenager, we argued about every single day, and at one point, I called her a bitch and made her cry. We didn’t become close until my senior year of high school, and she was the last person I saw before I shipped out to BMT. Since enlisting, I talk to her more than my dad throughout the week.
Letting worrying about what other people will think of me affect me way to much.
I regret not socializing and making friends. I should have been more outgoing and initiate conversations but instead I was waiting for other people to come to me. They never did. High school was a miserable time because I didn’t have any friends. I feel like I’ve lost the best years of my life.
Not taking better care of my teeth. Some of my teeth are in pretty bad shape now and I know I’m going to need a lot of dental work.
I was too self conscious to speak. I had crippling social anxiety. Even when people were nice to me, I couldn’t reciprocate conversation or just normal human interaction. I lost the friends I did make because I couldn’t even handle hanging out with them I was so anxious.
Looking back, yeah I’m kind of a weird person. As an adult, it doesn’t matter. I just do what I want and if people like it they like I, if they don’t, they don’t. I make friends. I hang out with people if I want too. I just wish I had friends from high school like many others.
One time at the mall with my best friend, we found a backpack at McDonald’s. We looked through it and it contained a few textbooks but nothing with anyone’s name on it to identify the person who lost it. I’m not sure how, or why, but my first thought was “I’ll poop into a big Mac container and put that into the backpack!” I guess I thought it would make my friend laugh… and it did!! Anyway we left the backpack where we found it and like a half hour later went back and saw that it was gone. I told my friend “ha! Somebody stole that backpack and is gonna find quite the surprise!” Then I realized that it was probably the kid who lost it who came back and got it. I felt soooooo bad!! I just kept thinking about some poor kid bringing it home and leaving it in his room all weekend without looking inside and having to explain to his parents why there was a turd filled BigMac in his school bag. It’s been over twenty years and I still feel bad when I think about it.
https://giphy.com/gifs/job-scores-entry-oKQHP89vJTUnm
Not taking care of my health. I was a heavy teen but I carried my weight really well (bomb ass hour glass shape for the win. Tits and ass to spare). My mother tried to get me physically active but I wouldn’t hear it because I didn’t think I needed it. Ate and drank whatever I wanted as much as I wanted.
Now I’m in my 30s and FIGHTING every damn day to lose weight to stop these health issues that have cropped up over the last five years (horrible joint pain, high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol to name a few). Lost 89lbs over two years and I still have another 100lbs to go. Could have handled this shit when I was younger..
