'The teenage years are the best years of one's life.' Would you agree with this view?

Being a typical teen like my fellow peers, I'm going through the process of growing up. I agree to a large extent that teenage years are the best years of one's life. It is the period whereby you learn and experience life. It is till my teenage years, have I learnt more about the world I'm living in. When young, we're often protected by our parents, shielded from the ugly world and not contaminated by greed or any other morally wrong values. It is inevitable that we come into contact with these vices as we grow up. It is through my teenage years, I have learnt things that my parents do not teach me, things that cannot be learnt in classrooms and things that give me different perceptions of life.

In primary school, as innocent as we may be, we are forgiven every time we make a mistake because we are still young. As I advance to my teenage years, things changed. When we turn to teenagers, we enter another phrase of our life. From primary school to secondary school, the environment changes as well as the friends and people around you. In primary school, I basically go to school and go home straight after school. When in secondary school, that’s where friends come in. Secondary school marks the beginning of teenage life. It is a stage whereby boys and girls undergo puberty and change both physically and mentally. We begin to get exposed to different feelings and emotions like stress. I personally have experienced much more emotions as compared to life in primary school. With increased amount of school work, projects and co-curriculum activities, stress comes into the picture. It was a whole new feeling of being pushed constantly to complete deadlines and tasks. Many would have found much difficulties handling and coping with stress. Students find ways to release their frustrations sometimes through self-mutilation or rebellious action against authorities. There are students who are more extreme choose to commit suicide. Parents may not know how to help their child in these cases or misconstrue their children’s action. It is a pity how some teen choose to escape than to face the problem. I feel that stress is just part of growing up as we prepare ourselves for adulthood. Many mature after they experience and been through a rough patch. It is process that everyone have to go through regardless of race, sex or religion.

We can only be teenagers once in our lifetime. We can choose to treasure this time that we have at hand to enjoy the process of growing up or to escape whenever we come in contact to something foreign to our lives. It's only during the teenage years that we are able to play hard and work hard at the same time. Things will change when we enter adulthood. We no longer have the privilege of being able to commit mistakes; we have more responsibilities and work load as we join the working society. And so far, I've been enjoying my teenage life.