Seventeen is stepping into the hurricane. You’re growing up and suddenly becoming an adult while you’re still a kid. Responsibility is thrown at you along with stress and pressure. Your friends want you to do one thing; your family wants you to do another. In the midst of these struggles you must balance school, sports, dating, and so much more. Seventeen is when you become a tightrope walker, praying that there’s a net below you but also wishing that there isn’t. You’re terrified of the fall, yet you enjoy taking the risk.

You’re young and in the best shape of your life. Your grandmother tells you how skinny you are and covertly tries to fatten you up. Your father always wants your shorts to be longer and your collar to be higher. Your mother comments on your acne and gives advice to fix it whether you like it or not. Your little sister tells you how unfashionable you are but secretly wears your clothes.

Seventeen is telling everyone you don’t care what you wear. Seventeen is spending hours in front of the mirror.
By seventeen you have drifted in and out of multiple circles of friends. You are still searching for those who you want to spend the rest of your life with. You are looking for those friends who will visit you at college, go on spring break with you, and live with you. These friends are hard to find; like looking for a needle in the haystack called high school.

And let’s not even mention the struggle of dating as a teenager.

Seventeen is reading too much into every text message, or Snapchat. Today, seventeen is growing up with technology at your fingertips. You’re constantly accused of spending too much time on your phone, while your parents spend twice as much time trying to login to Facebook. You use your phone more of  a way to look busy when you’re out in public, because at seventeen you have to look busy all the time.

After all, people who are busy all the time are the most successful, aren’t they? When you’re academically inclined, at seventeen your job is to become the best applicant for colleges and scholarships alike. And yet, you’re expected to confident, self assured, and know exactly how you will find peace and prosperity.

Most of time, you are busy anyway. You are torn between academics and friends, work and extracurriculars, studying and dating. Seventeen is a war between youth and adulthood. Seventeen is filled with giggles and tears. Seventeen is fleeting; don’t let it slip by.

This is 17. This is me. Now.