Were you a screwed up teenager?

I was not a “screwed up” teenager; I got through high school with okay but not great grades, and then went on to the University of California.

But I was drinking alcoholically by the time I was a senior in high school. And I did not recover from that until I was 30.

I had “issues” as a teenager. But nobody I know from that time thinks I was screwed up.
A little violent perhaps, but not screwed up.
Hey, what the fuck? Puberty sucks!

my childhood sucked but i had a great teenagehood. they were the best years of my life.

All teens are screwed up. How else can we attain greatness?
Getting high and/or drunk is plan of the day. A zit is monumentally disastrous. Hate on the chick who left school for almost all her junior year because she got a modeling contract. You now understand all those tongue in cheek jokes, but only the gross ones are funny. I CAN NEVER DIE! Steal a car, anxiety over a lost concert t-shirt. Need a paycheck, not a job. Everybody thinks I am weird. Cutting a class you hate is an accomplishment. Writing your own excuse and getting away with it is heroism. Gawd I can’t let anybody know how fucked up my family is! Am I real, or is somebody dreaming me? I am such a loser. I…....
AM…........ GAWWWWWWD!

I was a fine emotional mess. I aged out of it.

I was a perfect teenager. My Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer (terminal) when I was 12. That left my Dad overloaded and barely able to keep the house, my Mom, work, and family life together. I knew he was overwhelmed so I helped by being good – more than good – super good! I did well in school and tried not to give him anything else to worry about.
With so little supervision it would have been so easy for me to be bad but I just couldn’t.
That self control helped put me where I am today.
Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad!

I was 13 when I learned (the hard way) that no one was going to save me from my mother as long as she’s was married to the pastor’s brother – and that reporting her would only make things worse.

That’s when I fell deep into religion – at first to get out of the house 4 times a week, but also because the constant guilt trip justified the gaslighting, and made the abuse make sense. It really WAS my fault! And if I did blah blah… If I was good enough, pious enough, polite enough, helpful enough… it would eventually stop.

If I never had close friends, never dated boys, never went to parties, didn’t get caught wearing makeup or pants, never locked my bedroom door, gave up my ambitions of higher education, burned my novel, did housework instead of schoolwork…

Being a teenager sucked massively.

Not really. I didn’t drink or do drugs. My grades were good, but not great, because I didn’t study much, barely opened a text book. I was depressed at times, which left me lethargic and unmotivated. I started working at 14 and was great at my job, and had my own money, which I think was a very positive thing for me and my self esteem.

The headache I gave my parents was mostly that I started dating a guy right as 10th grade ended. I was 15, and quickly became very involved with him. My dad was not thrilled to put it mildly. That boyfriend did some fairly crappy things, cheated on me, lied, but we also had some really good times. I dated him for almost 6 years, and it made things a little complicated to get on the right track.

Only that I didn’t really start chasing women until I was in my twenties, my teen years was all about my dirt bike and exploring mountain roads and trails, I lived to be on my dirt bike.

So so I guess. Smoked pot when I could get it, but never at home. Managed to avoid the heavy drugs somehow. But I dont now, nor did then, consider pot to be a drug. So shoot me.

I did some screwed up things but I don’t believe I was screwed up.

Nope, my teenage-hood was fairly uneventful. I couldn’t have been more unremarkable, as far as I’m concerned. College is when my life started to become a bit more “messy”, though I enjoyed it all the same.

What teenager is not screwed up at least a little? Hitting an age of independence with hormones running wild through your system….not a recipe for sane behavior. But I didn’t get into too much trouble and managed to plan a future and follow through with that plan.

Pretty much. I was raped by two guy friends when I was barely 15 and my two closest friends didn’t believe me when I told them. This led to major trust issues that affect me still.
After that I started using drugs. My father was always working and my mother was an alcoholic who was bipolar. My parents loved me but I was often left on my own. I didn’t get a lot of attention. I was lucky to graduate high school with a ‘C’ average.

I applied myself in college and graduated with a 3.96 while raising two toddler boys, but I still have trust issues.