Young Girl's Struggle

During every person's life, they experience different struggles, whether it be heartbreak, family problems, drama, school, etc. My story involves all of those struggles at once. It started at the age of 16 for me. I thought I was in love with a boy who was hopeless and did not know what he wanted out of life. He was the kind of boy with a smile that made a girls heart melt and added adventure to anyone's life that he entered. It was like a movie scene when we fell for each other. We were the same person, from music taste to activities we enjoyed. Unfortunately, without him knowing what he wanted from life, meant that he did not know if he wanted me in it. He broke my heart time and time again. From breaking up with me consistently over stupid little fights to cheating on me with a couple other girls. Finally the time came that I thought I was done falling for his stupid games and we were over. A few weeks later we ended up next to each other at a concert together, where he looked me in the eyes, kissed me, and then followed behind me while we went crowd surfing. Everything seemed absolutely perfect, like everything was falling back into place. Turns out, it was the exact opposite.

The next morning I had woken up to a text from him saying that we were not meant to be together and that he is leaving me, yet again. This was the start of a downward spiral in my life. I became so depressed and distanced myself from everyone. I found myself not wanting to go to work anymore, leaving school early every day, and falling behind in my classes. The pain he caused me was something that I had never experienced before and did not understand or know how to cope with. For me, the best coping mechanism was to separate myself from everyone.

After while, I began to reconnect myself with reality again, but I found myself arguing with my family a lot. My mom had just gotten a new boyfriend at the time who I was not very fond of. He moved in only a couple months after my breakup, and I was not very happy about it. When it came time for spring break, my mom told me that she decided just her boyfriend and her were going to go on vacation, even though we had previously discussed vacation plans for all of us. My mom and I got into a fight which resulted in her kicking me out, and I was only 16. Luckily, I had a place to go with my dad so that I could still have a home. My mom and I did not talk for a couple of weeks after this happened, and feeling like I lost my mom was a worse pain than the breakup was. My dad worked a lot so it was difficult for both of us when it came to changing our schedules around when I needed rides to school and work. A month after I got kicked out, I got my license which made things easier when it came to transportation to and from work and school.

These few months were a terrible experience for me that caused me great pain. However, some good things did come out of the situation. Living with my dad taught me how to become more independent. With my dad always working a lot, I had to learn how to do my own laundry, make my own food, clean the house, and most importantly, how to live on my own. These are skills that everyone needs to learn in their lives, but I had to learn at a very young age. My mom had always spoiled me and did everything for me, leaving little room for independence and every-day life lessons. At the age of only 16, I was already becoming an adult and learning how to live like one, which I am thankful for. The pain that I experienced had taught me different coping mechanisms that are important to my mental health, along with important lessons in the real world. The most important lesson that all of this struggle taught me, is that we are never actually alone in anything. No matter what, there is always someone rooting for your success and willing to help you achieve it.