For most of us, middle school wasn’t the most fabulous of times. It probably involved quite of bit acne, braces and poor wardrobe decisions. In more recent years, however, kids have been growing up way faster than we ever did. Fourteen year olds are starting to look like they’re in their early twenties. While dressing up and looking like an adult seems like a big deal to kids, it makes me sad that they don’t get to experience a true awkward phase.
Looking back at old photos can make us cringe at times, but, for the most part, we tend to reminisce on those awkward days fondly. Things were just easier. We weren’t concerned with wearing makeup on a daily basis, we took selfies of the worst possible angles, and we definitely didn’t care if our laughs were eight8 octaves above the normal frequency and somewhat resembled the sound of a dying donkey. Let’s face it: life was way easier when you didn’t worry so much about your appearance all the time. I personally can’t imagine going through middle school spending more than 15 minutes to get ready in the morning, and what a waste of makeup that would’ve been.
Not only did you not care as much about your appearance, you probably found some of the coolest people by being a little awkward. It can be difficult to find friends when your vocal cords are doing weird things and your face is transitioning from pubescent to young adult. However, at a younger age, everyone was about equal levels of awkward, and your true friends dealt with every bad haircut you got. Friends you make later in life are great too, but they’ll never know the darkest parts of your past unless you met them as a youth.
Additionally, being ugly for a period of time can be important on your self-esteem today. If you started off looking like a Victoria’s Secret model, your chances of progressively getting more attractive with age are much slimmer. It’ll be way easier to compare that freckled-faced picture from your first school dance to what you look like now if you didn’t resemble a toddler in a tiara.
You have the rest of your life to focus on eating healthy and working out, take cute selfies, and have your makeup on fleek. So, to all the youngsters out there, let yourself be a little weird while you still can. While being an adult seems totally cool as a kid, it comes with a lot of responsibilities and, sometimes, you’re going to want to look back at old pictures of your and your friends’ double chins just to have a good laugh.