When we’re newly born, our parents look into our eyes with so much love and care, and we’re showered with kisses and hugs and presents and love. When we’re toddlers, we make friends and play with them, learning to explore this divine world we live in. When we grow a little older, we are children, obsessed with discovering everything from books to movies to toys and to friendships. Misunderstandings and fights arise, only to be abruptly fixed by apologies and love. When we are pre-teens, we wish to be older, we read Seventeen and Teen Vogue, idolize celebrities and our older sisters, and long for the days when we too are allowed to paint our faces with make-up and wear jeans so tight they hurt and tops that display our midriffs.

Then, we approach the period in our lives where everything changes. We are teenagers now. Our parents are constantly disappointed with us, our school work is more demanding and seems impossible and the prospect of university applications scares us to no end. Fall-outs with friends are not solved with trips to the ice-cream store like they used to be. The absentminded happiness that we had as little kids and the oblivious feeling that ‘Everything is going to be okay’ has disappeared. Fad diets enter our world, and mirrors are sources of constant frustration for we never seem to look good in front of them. Boys and so-called friends become the centerfold of our lives and we believe everything everyone says. We experience so much as teenagers, the disasters and heartaches, the lost loves, breakdowns and self-esteem issues.

With this said, it is evident that, like any other stage in our life, this stage too will pass. The heartbreak, the endless crying, the not feeling good enough will be over and done with soon. Everything is going to be okay.