Learning Experiences

Growing up the youngest out of four I was always living in my siblings shadows. There was nothing I could do that they hadn't already done. So even though I became a little rebellious in my adolescence it was nothing compared to my siblings. Elementary school was a breeze. It is always easy to make friends because its all new to you, especially if your at the same school for the whole duration. Middle school you start to find yourself. You discover what your likes and dislikes are the friends you keep etc.. The hardest part for me was high school. The friends you had in elementary and middle school are no longer your friends they now are in their own little clicks. There's the cheerleaders, football players, band, drama club and so much more. For me it was a struggle to find out where I belonged. I didn't want to join a club that my siblings were in because I didn't want to be treated like the little sister, even though that was constantly happening anyway. I wanted to find something that was my own, so I tried many different avenues and realized that none of them made me happy. I didn't want to belong or be labeled into a certain category. I just wanted to be myself. After my own adolescent self discovery I decided that I wouldn't be subjected to just one area I would try as many as I could and that's how I was in high school. I didn't want to hang out with one group of people I floated around and was friends with several. I felt it made me a more rounded person. It heightened my social skills and has played an important role in who I am today.
As a teenager I think we all want to fit in and belong. Majority of us want to be considered popular. What I realized when I left high school is that it's just another chapter in our life and the real world awaits. Now that I am in college I can look back at my adolescence as a learning experience. Like in Red the story The Best Kind of Popular, I just wanted to be myself and for people to like me for who I was not what kind of group I belonged in.
After reading many of the stories in the book thay had many similarities between them. A couple of the stories were about having to move from one place to another. I have been in the same place my whole life but after reading some of the stories I can see how it would be a challenge to belong when you don't really know anybody. Also some friends you find and some you loose, people are always coming in and out of our lives. It's what you learn from them that matters. Like in the different stories in the book we all have our own to tell, adolescence is a constant learning experience.