As an adolescent, we may go through various developmental stages, but one thing is certain: challenges enable us to grow. These problems put our mentality, maturity, and other qualities to the test, but how we manage them reveals more about ourselves.
Physical
(LAURENCE GIAN SABANGAN)
I don’t have a sense of fashion in myself before, but sometimes when I go out with friends, I'll always wear clothes that I usually wear at home like thin shorts and shirt that have holes in it. I’m comfortable this way that’s why I’m having a hard time to decide what to wear when I go into an important event like birthdays, reunions, and Christmas parties at school. I even tried to copy some peoples fashion like influencers and celebrities. I was trying to wear turtlenecks, hoodies, and wearing long socks to help myself to look better so that I can impress my friends by my fashion because it’s better than theirs even though I only copy it from others. My friends tease me about my fat figure from time to time. Because of that, I started to work out my body so that if I became muscular someday, they cannot tease me anymore, instead they will be going to be impressed and more likely that they will also work out to have the same body as mine someday.
Identity/Self-Concept
(LAURENCE GIAN SABANGAN)
I have low self-esteem and poor self-concept. I don’t know myself as a person and as a student. I don’t have the confidence to stand up in front of many people and even raising hands in online class because I’m scared of being wrong and needed to be corrected by other people. I sometimes try to build up my confidence by participating in everything but when I make a mistake, my self-esteem goes lower until there’s nothing left anymore. In preventing that to happen, I prefer not to participate at everything as much as possible when I’m not sure whether I’m wrong or correct. But even though I have low self-esteem, I always see myself as a great and smart teenage boy because even if I don’t participate in any of our lessons in class, my answers and thoughts are mostly correct. I think that I am at the same level to my smartest friend because I can keep up to him at academics but when it comes to self-confidence or self-esteem, I think that I’m at the bottom in my class and my friends.
Emotional Behavior
(LAURENCE GIAN SABANGAN)
When someone brings up my bad experiences in the past and makes them a topic of our conversation, I become extremely sensitive. I easily get mad about this because, for me, digging up someone’s bad experiences in their past is something that’s not good. I am also moody. My mood can easily change depending on my surroundings and my feelings. When my friends are playing games and laughing at each other, I sometimes join them when I feel like it, and sometimes I just ignore them, depending on what I’m feeling at that moment. My friends always say that I’m moody because there is always a time when they are noisy and they’re beside me. What I sometimes do is join in their group and make the noise they do, but when I don’t feel like joining them, what I do is shout at them, telling them that they need to lower their voices, and the result is that they get angry at me some of the time.
Social Attitude
(ANGELIQUE SENORIN)
Growing up, we tend to fantasize the future & its unending possibilities. We greet tomorrow with great anticipation & dream on without hesitation. We look up to those ahead of us & begin to wonder about our own capabilities. We also begin to build high expectations for ourselves & our future. During these times, validation seems to matter to us more than it actually should. We try to excel in everything that we do to receive recognition from others, especially our peers. As teens, we look forward to maturity & independence without really understanding what it means. Suddenly being introduced to adolescence can be so overwhelming that we unknowingly push ourselves into maturity - when we’re actually supposed to walk towards it step by step. Seeing those around us move forward recklessly, we end up throwing away the feeling of unfamiliarity behind us & follow them ahead. Because we still have a poor & unstable concept of ourselves, we tend to rely more on others’ opinions & what they think of us. These misconceptions can make us confuse growth into a race or competition. Most of the time, we rush growth & pressure ourselves with the unrealistic ideas that we have of ourselves.
Peer Relationships
(ANGELIQUE SENORIN)
Naturally, we may find ourselves trying to fit in with others & having a lot of friend groups. Because honestly, who would want to be all alone when we can also be popular with our peers at the same time. We only grow up once & we can never rewind the time that we spend with our friends. Most of our time growing into an adolescent, we spent it with together with our friends & peers, going through everything with laughter, even the hardships. I only realized how much of my life revolved around my friends after the pandemic happened & I had to face new chapters of life without them. It somehow felt foreign & unusual. At first it was tough to accept that I had to leave them behind because of that, but at some point, I came to realize how much it made me grow & appreciate the time that I spend with myself. The moments with our friends will forever be memorable & unreplaceable, but as we go on in life, we also learn the importance of allotting time for ourselves & having peace within. As we continue to grow, we further understand what really matters in life.
Family Relationships
(MATTHEW JAMES RAMIREZ)
Families aren’t perfect. That is the thing that I always say in order for me to minimize my anger with my family. Misunderstanding has been tampering our relationship for many years. I am an open person. I always speak my mind depending on what is the situation. I told them what I feel and they seem to don’t understand it. I was traumatized by a dog bite and I always tell them that but they think that I’m just acting or making excuses. With that happening, I fear to open more. My relationship with my family is barely hanging, it was then even I’m just a child. I grow up independently and we become distant even if we’re living under the same roof. When I’m all alone, I wonder if I am a great pretender because no one can see my pain. I rely more on my friends because we have the same experiences and we can relate to each other. There is a part of me that it is just a phase because we need to surround ourselves with a person who will stay even the hardships and that is your family.
Romantic Relationships
(MATTHEW JAMES RAMIREZ)
I've never been in a relationship, and I don't think I ever will. I'm still at a point in my life where I don't want to be in a romantic relationship. I'm still not ready, and I don't want it to be a fling or puppy love. I have this thing where when I date, I date with the intention of marrying. Short or unsuccessful relationships may be a stepping stone to something better, but I don't want that for myself. Anyway, I'm not trying to rush into a relationship because I'm still busy and want to concentrate on my studies. My family provides for all of my needs, and I don't want them to pay for my date because it is unnecessary. I'd like to date a woman or a man using my own money. One of the difficulties that middle adolescents have when it comes to relationships is that some do not last long. It might just be their curiosity to try new things in life, but I'll let time tell me when it's time to open my heart. We must be open to possibilities since life is full of unexpected and never-ending possibilities.
Decision Making/Independence
(MATTHEW JAMES RAMIREZ)
So far in my life, I’ve never had a really worst decision that I make. Before making a decision, I access first on what factors might my decision affect me and my surroundings. I learn to think well in this kind of matters because I know that it will haunt me every time. I also value others because I’m not the only one who’s affected by my actions. I grow up independent and I take consequences for my action because that’s how I raised to be. A leader saw that potential in me and offer me a position in an organization. I establish to make a reputation in being independent and also a friendly one as a leader. I attended seminars and workshops and I make a goal to be better for that responsibility. I leave my JHS as their Student Council President. I learn to be mature even though I must be in a phase of an adolescent who makes poor decisions but I chose to strive to be better.
Cognitive Development
(ADRIAN JAVIER)
Cognitive Development during middle adolescence is very present due to the firehose of changes in my body and my thinking in this period. These changes lead to challenges like stress, and problems with relationships. But these challenges help cognitive development. Problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, and adaptability are all cognitive skills that develop from real-life challenges, I can now adapt to harder demands from school and solve logical problems in my life, and after middle adolescence, these cognitive skills will eventually fully develop and can be taken advantage of for small to big decisions and problems in adult life. Thinking about the future is also apparent in this current period since there are many dilemmas that can dramatically affect my whole lifetime, like senior high school and college.
Values/Morality
(ADRIAN JAVIER)
In terms of values and morality in the middle adolescence period, I am beginning to care more about my ethics and personal values to keep a healthy social relationship with my peers and family I am always working on and developing my personal values and morality when reflecting and doing self-assessments from time to time. Altruism, honesty, attitude towards others, moral reasoning, and caring for others are all values that I acknowledge as very important, I always try to keep these values in mind before doing something or deciding on something. When moral problems start to arise or when mistakes like breaking personal values happen, there will be a reflection on the event for future occurrences of the problem and when there are signs that those moral mistakes are happening again, I will always try to pivot away from that direction.
Career Goals
(ADRIAN JAVIER)
My career goals currently in middle adolescence are still not final. Peer pressure and the blind desire to reach freedom seems to hinder the development of this aspect for most people, but I have learned that my passion and talents are different from others. Trying to fit in with peers and not being individual from them is leading to unwise decisions that affect the future. It’s better to be independent without them. The very strong desire to be an adult prematurely and live alone is risky and irresponsible decisions for the future. I know that I don't have many life skills as of now. These two problems will lead to an unlikeable adult life. Everyone's career goals will likely be better when late adolescence starts since most people will likely be future oriented.
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