o.o I think that the real world is definitely harder, but older guys enjoy to belittle it into something it isn't.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say: "You're in high school! These are the best years of your life!" The fact is, psychologically, all throughout high school you are unstable, because you are pushing away from dependence on your parental figures and forcing yourself into a lost confused state where you try to define yourself as a separate entity from your parents. Fact is, and I've had grown adults tell me this too, high school is not the best years of your life; they suck.
I like to explain everything in medical terms, so from physical changes, to psychological changes, along with family life and dealing with people at school, all of which are maturing at different rates, it's more difficult then it seems.
Not to mention, this is the time when a lot of serious medical problems are identified, in younger people. It's when my medical issues came to be, along with many many others. In elementary and middle school, you don't have memorial days to a student who died of cancer because they are so rare and unheard of. Now, we are faced with dealing with death. Even if you were faced with death as a young child, it's not the same as now, because now you are given a better understanding of it.
Teens are also very susceptible to depression around this time, especially if it runs in the family, and this causes immense anxiety and gives way to suicidal thoughts, which I can almost promise you, at least 80% of us have thought of at one point in our lives. Now we are introduced to not only death and sorrow, but heavy amounts of anger, regret, and several other emotions.
We've felt these same emotions as young children, but not on such a large scale, and so dealing with emotions this strong, becomes a huge internal struggle.
Besides that, peer pressure is at its most when you are in high school. Girls get sexually harassed by guys on a daily basis; guys are pressured by other guys to have sex, these guys being pressured into make the virgin males feel terrible about themselves, and then these guys go and try and pressure their girlfriends into it. Teens are being introduced to drugs, alcohol, sex, sometimes teenage pregnancy, and because these factors are all now in their lives, adults around them tend to become even more protective from such things, which can be taken as a lack of trust or the parents "babying" their children.
Also as children, you tend not to consider your physical appearance as much, its whatever mommy dresses you in or however mommy does your hair, and then its off to school with a bagged lunch with a juice box and a pudding. Weight isn't concern to the child, the way they dress, the makeup they wear, the way they do their hair, these things don't matter as much until you are a teenager and feel the pressure of judgment. Enter eating disorders and stress from self image.
Teenagers are also most vulnerable now to rape, abuse, and other such things. Teenagers have hit puberty, so in the eyes of predators, they are now attractive and sexually appealing, as well as weaker and less knowledgeable about what to do when faced with this sort of situation. Almost makes them the perfect victim. Abuse, from parents, significant others, and other people in their lives makes them afraid of others, and makes them struggle to conceal an identity of them they don't want others to know about, by any means necessary.
Now all these things are going on, we are aware all these things are going on, and because our minds are trying to become self reliant, we try to work through these problems ourselves, and sometimes rely on a close friend to help to; a lot of us won't go to our parents, because that would mean giving up part of our newly found independence. Trying to solve a problem to big for you to solve on you own, only causes further stress.
Basically, we are being introduced to A LOT of things we don't know how to handle, and are trying to handle more than we know how to, while trying to please the people that mean the most to us. Overwhelming amounts of emotion bottle up inside, we don't know who we can and can't trust, we are dealing with the knowledge that us ourselves, or people close to us have been raped, abused, does drugs, drinks, is depressed and suicidal, has a life-threatening illness, are having babies, or are just victims to the judgment of peers and parents.
All this is going on, the adults in our lives belittle the amount of stress we are enduring, and belittle who we are, and we don't know how to handle all these new changes we are being faced with. =3 Thanks Flash and Kinjo! for supporting those adults who belittle us... =]
Even you two have to admit high school is damn difficult to get through.
Well... I'm done ranting.. Did any one even read all that?