Anyone here feel cheated out of their teen years

Silentknight

Silentknight

Well-known member
This will probably end up being a rant just so you know.
I went out to a haunted theme park today and all-in-all had a pretty good day with just me and my friend but while I was there I couldnt help but notice that mostly everyone their was in their early teens and I started to think about how I'm coming up on my last year as a teenager (I'll be 19 in two weeks) and how I don't have any actual teenage experiences to speak of. If I was ever asked what did I do as a teenager? what was I like? I wouldn't have an answer. I stayed home, I didnt talk to anyone, what kind of answer is that? I don't know I guess I'm just annoyed, jealous I'll admit that I never got the chance to have those stupid, fun teenage years I mean I guess it's good I never fell into drugs or drinking or that I'm not a teenage father but damn if it doesn't suck knowing I never got to live my teen years to the fullest because of my SA. Also I know I'm young and have (hopefully) a long life ahead of me that will (hopefully) be full of great experiences BUT theirs something about a persons teen years that you can never recreate once they're over.
 
M

mictsekk

Well-known member
I feel kinda the same way. Up to 9th grade I was a pretty normal teen, but in high school I developed depression so I pretty much didnt go to any parties or have any awesome experiences. All the time I think about how I have wasted some of the best years of my life (i'm 19) and it makes me really sad. But I guess feeling guilty about not doing stuff in the past is pointless and doesnt make anything better..
 
R

Rembrandt Broam

Well-known member
Yes there are times when I feel like that, but I try not to dwell on it. What's done is done. You can only try to make the best of your life going forward, starting today. Sure there are people who had fantastic and exciting teen years, but there are a lot of people who had to endure far worse than my boring teen years.
 
K

Kinetik

Well-known member
I remember feeling cheated out of my teens, but now that those years are over I feel cheated out of my life. ::p:
 
B

Buzzard

Member
Absolutly, like all the rest in life. I lock(ed) myself up to. Want(ed) to do many things: go out to a club, join something, experiment with girls before setteling down, go to concerts, exhibitions,etc. Never done any of those because I hate being in a crowd, because I'm afraid of talking to people. I've wasted my teen-years playing computer games and because of that I feel that I haven't developed completly now.
And it's true, you can't get them back because everyone else moved on. I'm 27 but I often feel like a 14 year old, with no real experiences what so ever. I want to start my life again but I feel that I am so much behind and I still have so many things to learn which are so self-evident for someone else, it seems impossible to catch up.
 
takethislife

takethislife

Well-known member
Yea i know exactly how u feel.
You said you're (hopefuly) gonna catch up for the missed things with new experiences. [sry i know grammar's wrong but hopefuly u get the point]
I'm not so sure about it myself...
They say 'these are the best years of your life' n 'you don't even realize how easy life is for you right now' and stuff. If that's true i'm scared to think of how is life going to look like in some years.
 
Pacific_Loner

Pacific_Loner

Pirate from the North Pole
Silentknight said:
This will probably end up being a rant just so you know.
I went out to a haunted theme park today and all-in-all had a pretty good day with just me and my friend but while I was there I couldnt help but notice that mostly everyone their was in their early teens and I started to think about how I'm coming up on my last year as a teenager (I'll be 19 in two weeks) and how I don't have any actual teenage experiences to speak of. If I was ever asked what did I do as a teenager? what was I like? I wouldn't have an answer. I stayed home, I didnt talk to anyone, what kind of answer is that? I don't know I guess I'm just annoyed, jealous I'll admit that I never got the chance to have those stupid, fun teenage years I mean I guess it's good I never fell into drugs or drinking or that I'm not a teenage father but damn if it doesn't suck knowing I never got to live my teen years to the fullest because of my SA. Also I know I'm young and have (hopefully) a long life ahead of me that will (hopefully) be full of great experiences BUT theirs something about a persons teen years that you can never recreate once they're over.
Click to expand...

It's ok to waste your teenage years. Just make sure you don't waste your twenties.
 
vj288

vj288

not actually Fiona Apple
Yeah I definately feel that way. I never went to any of the dances (Prom included), never went to the football games, never had that innocent high school relationship, never went to any parties, I really didn't get any of those exsperiences that some people look back on say "Were the best years of my life." I try not to dwell, but being a freshmen in college I feel very behind everyone else, more like 13 year old than a 18 year old.
 
R

Rembrandt Broam

Well-known member
vj288 said:
Yeah I definately feel that way. I never went to any of the dances (Prom included), never went to the football games, never had that innocent high school relationship, never went to any parties, I really didn't get any of those exsperiences that some people look back on say "Were the best years of my life." I try not to dwell, but being a freshmen in college I feel very behind everyone else, more like 13 year old than a 18 year old.
Click to expand...

That's kind of ironic actually, as if I didn't know your age I'd have assumed you were in your thirties. You have a very mature outlook for an 18 year old. ;)

But given that you are 18, how will you feel when you reach 28 years old if you look back on your twenties with the same sense of regret that you currently feel towards your teens? That should be your motivation to change your life if you aren't happy with it. The past is fixed, but the future is up to you.

(Not singling you out here vj - this applies to each and every one of us.)
 
NathanielWingatePeaslee

NathanielWingatePeaslee

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Staff member
Rembrandt Broam said:
Yes there are times when I feel like that, but I try not to dwell on it. What's done is done. You can only try to make the best of your life going forward, starting today. Sure there are people who had fantastic and exciting teen years, but there are a lot of people who had to endure far worse than my boring teen years.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Spending time thinking about what you've missed or what you're missing now will not help you at all. It will just make you feel like crap.

Later, you will look back at where you are now and realize that not only were you not having fun (still), you were having a downright rotten time because you were thinking about how other people were having fun.

If I look back and see that I wasn't doing what I could, I will certainly feel worse about myself.
 
xLindziex

xLindziex

Well-known member
I think I've substituted my school-social life and "real teenage experiences" for an online socializing experience... if that makes sense. Like, I spend more time online and talking to people I'm comfortable experssing my likes/dislikes/hobbies to rather than being uncomfortable and awkward around people I see at school and hanging out with them. Honestly, I wouldn't trade the laugh's I've had with my online friends for experiences with people I only see at school. It just wouldn't be worth it to me. I too, won't have any wild and crazy stories to tell about my teenage years when I'm older, but in the long run it doesn't really matter if you enjoy what experiences you did have.

I'm pretty sure most people hate their teen years anyways, so it's not like we're really being cheated out of anything important. It could always be much worse.
 
Lonelykitsune

Lonelykitsune

Well-known member
Yeah same.I'm coming up to the end of my teens but the only thing I've really done is go to a concert(brillant BTW).But my family has done their best to make my childhood enjoyable so I've only myself to blame for my isolation.But I know it could have been a hell lot worse as I never had to deal with bullying or illness or anything like that so I'm grateful.
But I can't help but feel pissed when I think on how much fun others have had but best not to dwell on that.
 
M

mictsekk

Well-known member
Buzzard said:
I've wasted my teen-years playing computer games and because of that I feel that I haven't developed completly now.

I'm 27 but I often feel like a 14 year old, with no real experiences what so ever. I want to start my life again but I feel that I am so much behind and I still have so many things to learn which are so self-evident for someone else, it seems impossible to catch up.
Click to expand...

wow dude, I feel exactly the same way...::(:
 
Avery

Avery

Well-known member
Buzzard said:
I've wasted my teen-years playing computer games and because of that I feel that I haven't developed completly now.
And it's true, you can't get them back because everyone else moved on. I'm 27 but I often feel like a 14 year old, with no real experiences what so ever. I want to start my life again but I feel that I am so much behind and I still have so many things to learn which are so self-evident for someone else, it seems impossible to catch up.
Click to expand...

Same here. I think you're right: depressing as it is to say, missing out on crucial experiences during vital developmental stages is permanently debilitating. It's known that severely abused children who aren't spoken to throughout their childhood never develop normal speech -- in the same way, I'd wager that adolescents who don't interact with their peers in the regular way never develop 'normal' social lifestyles.

That's my experience, at least. I used to believe that my social inability was the result of low confidence, but as I've progressed into adulthood (job, car, apartment, etc.) I've become more confident, but no better socially. The outright awkwardness may have dissipated, but that subconscious antisocial wall will always divide me from others. Like an immigrant with an accent, I betray my (psychological) origins with every interaction.

It does bother me that I'll never date/marry/have children/etc., but as that outcome becomes more certain with the passing of time I become more accepting of it as a viable lifestyle.
 
theslowesthand

theslowesthand

Banned
Pacific_Loner said:
It's ok to waste your teenage years. Just make sure you don't waste your twenties
Click to expand...
Ha hah .. i've wasted both AND THEN SOME (my 30s). But i never think about it, as the NOW is the only important thing.

But then again, what is "waste"?. Is partying/socialising & being always "wasted" a waste?. Or is having ample me-time, self-reflection, acheiving a lot, ... a waste?
 
Last edited:
Sial Axetder

Sial Axetder

1
Pacific_Loner said:
It's ok to waste your teenage years. Just make sure you don't waste your twenties.
Click to expand...

What are teenage years?
See, I dropped on this chaotic planet as I am now. Of course that's not true.
I did, in all its anti-glory, waste those years. Trying to fix things now. It is not easy. Small steps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top