AH, BEING A teenager.
Or as it’s more appropriately known: surviving the wilderness years.
Embarrassment runs at an all-time high during puberty. The smallest things can set you off into a little spiral of shame and mortification. And don’t even talk to us about the blushing.
But sure, we can laugh about it all now, right? RIGHT?
Oh God. The absolutely scarlet feeling of suddenly letting slip the most embarrassing school faux pas of them all, with your hand in the air asking to dul go dtí an leithris. It was always the good-looking teacher, too, to add insult to injury.
Getting picked up by your parents in whatever truly mortifying banger they were rolling in at the time… There was nothing worse. Oh wait – there was. If they were rocking up to pick you up early from the local disco. The shame. The SHAME of it all.
Irish teenage discos were a hotbed of a lot of things, and embarrassment is up there with them. Awkward dancing was the name of the game, with genders split along opposite walls and the occasional brave couple sloping off for a furtive shift behind the parish centre. God be with the days.
Alright, so for some people, #theshift never stops being the be-all and end-all. But for most teenagers, romantic pursuits are top of mind for many years. And by a cruel trick of nature, this is the time when most of us are at our most inept with the opposite/same sex. Cue lots of nervous shuffling, awkward interactions, and muttered utterances of “Will you meet me mate?”
Lots of us kept diaries as teenagers – full of outpourings of love, ire at our parents, and a detailed listed breakdown of the members of Boyzone by desirability. The worst thing that could happen was a sibling getting their grubby paws on it. Life = over.
A huge part of a teenager’s life is their body being a bit uncooperative. We’re thinking the voice breaking, bras suddenly appearing, and more emotions than you can shake a stick at. Any of the above going wrong at an inopportune time – maybe in the PE changing room or somewhere else mortifying – was just the worst.
Some moments teach you everything you need to know about yourself. So many milestones are reached as we come of age – Leaving Cert results, starting college, living life independently. Players in The Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships are embarking on their adult lives, juggling new responsibilities with their ambitions and are looking to the future. The Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships – follow the conversation at #ThisIsMajor.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say