Weight of the World

"Pressure makes diamonds." -- General George S. Patton, Jr.

Diamonds form under extreme heat, about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, 100 miles below the earth’s skin. It takes 725,000 pounds per square inch of pressure for a diamond to be born.

Teenagers are like diamonds. We are put under intense pressure, much more so than that of our predecessors.

Who am I? This is a question all teenagers ask themselves. Teenagers are engaged in a mortal struggle with themselves in search of their identity. They’re no longer children, yet not quite adults. We’re constantly shifting and changing, trying to find ourselves. Add in hormones and the complex hierarchies of high school, and...voila! You have social pressure. Of course, there’s the infamous peer pressure, but teenagers are also being scrutinized in their academics. In comparison to the rest of the world, America has been falling behind in formal education. Schools are now struggling to accommodate new educational legislature with low budgets. According to a study done by the American Psychology Association, teenagers’ stress levels are rated a 5.8 out of 10, far exceeding healthy levels. Even during summer break, teenagers reported as being extremely stressed, what with internships, jobs, and relationships. Teens reported that a lot of stress is due to school. We have to worry not only about getting accepted into college, but also the rising costs of education and figuring out a way to pay back those loans (averaging $29,400 for each student in 2012).

Even adolescents here in Michigan are feeling the pressure of the changing curriculum. It’s my junior year. That means college nights, getting world experience, keeping my grades up, and taking the ACT. My ACT score will show colleges how well I perform as a student and basically decide my options for my future. After this year, the state is repealing the ACT and going to the SAT. Not only do I now have to worry about scoring well on the ACT, but also getting one that pleases me in the time limit the government has set for me. I am now in a race against time to get a decent score that will decide my future. Talk about a lot of pressure.

Teenagers also feel pressure from the inside. Not only are we pressured by the secular world around us, but teenagers are being pressured by themselves. The pressure to conform to society’s standards weighs down on teens around the globe. Teenagers are self-conscious to a fault. We’re not yet comfortable in our own skins, always worrying about how others see us. So we judge ourselves and others based on what society thinks, stereotyping ourselves. We feel the need to be perfect in every way, shape, and form– even though perfection itself does not exist.

A study in 2012 showed that between 1983 and 2009, stress levels increased 10-30 percent, and it’s still on the rise. Teenagers pressure themselves to fit in, to accommodate their peers’ covets before their own. Girls think they need to be supermodel beautiful; boys think they need to be emotionally stable and virile. Instead of evaluating themselves by what’s on the inside and liking who they are as individuals, they transform themselves into something they’re not to coincide with the thinking of a few. Yet even when some teens do conform, they’re still bullied and persecuted for what their appearance looks like. Teenagers don’t speak out against such bullying due to pressure from peers and fear of retaliation. Not only that, but our society expects so much from its young people...to know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their lives once they graduate.

That’s a lot of pressure to put on someone who’s just entered the real world. With so much pressure and expectations, teenagers are afraid to fail and disappoint those around them, overexerting themselves to meet those expectations. Such pressure doesn’t just affect one’s mental health; it also affects appetite, sleep habits, and many other health related issues. Teenagers don’t know how to handle it, nor should society expect them to. The world expects teenagers to act like adults, to be mature and make responsible decisions, to always be perfect on the first try. Yet we’re still new to the real world. We’re inexperienced and still wet behind the ears. Teenagers need to be able to make mistakes, to learn from them and grow emotionally and mature into the adults society expects of them.

Pressure is what molds us into the people we will become. Each and every one of us feels it in our daily lives. Pressure breaches age, racial, and social barriers like a rising tide. Diamonds are like teenagers. Without pressure, we wouldn’t become diamonds, wouldn’t achieve our full potential or attain success. Yet too much pressure can feel like the weight of the world, causing that diamond to shatter.

"There is no such thing as talent. There is pressure."-- Alfred Adler

Tara Canda is a Junior at Gaylord High School and is interested in pursuing a degree in English after graduation.

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