Trigger Warning – includes themes of sexual assault and rape.
I remember growing up, my parents told me if boys picked on me, they had a crush on me. I was taught at a really young age that if boys make fun of me, I should fall for them. As I grew up, that idea makes me weak in the knees (in the bad way).
When I was 15 years old, I was sexually harassed by my boyfriend at the time. And I’m tired of hinting around the subject.
One of my passions besides writing is photography. It all started when I was 14 years old, and my father bought me my first digital camera.
I fell in love with it the first photo I took of my mom’s rose bush in our backyard. My love for photography grew on my trip to London and Paris with my school. I loved photographing the landscape and the buildings and the atmosphere, but most importantly, I loved taking photos of the people living their lives.
I love cities. I love the hustle and bustle. I love the busy days, and even busier nights. I love walking everywhere. I love Los Angeles.
This past weekend, I went to Los Angeles for a high school journalism conference. And I’m pretty sure I’m a Californian stuck in a Tennessean’s body.
Here’s why I loved it.
I’ve always been one who likes to know things underneath the surface. I don’t like small talk, and I’ve never been one for pointless questions.
With that being said, I’ve been dating my boyfriend for a year and a half. I know a lot about him. I sat down with him and asked him some hard questions about life, and just basically deep questions to learn more about him (which trust me, I know a lot).
His answers were interesting. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you the question, his answer, and my answer. This is fun. We should do this more often.
So, I just applied for the classes I am going to take my senior year of high school.
I just went to one of my best friend’s graduation parties. I am already talking to teachers about writing my recommendations for my college applications. Yikes.
It’s times like this where I wish I could push the pause button on my life. I need a breather. I need a break from my own life!! That sucks!! It’s like feeling like you don’t belong in your life??
I guess all of this “pre-senior stress” has got me thinking about where I want my life to go. What I want to DO with my life. Who I want to become.
I’m 17 years old, and I have this fear that I’m not doing enough with my life. But, before you yell at me and tell me “You have your whole life to do whatever you want, don’t worry about it,” I’m going to have to politely disagree with your philosophy. I do not have my entire life to waste on “whatever I want”, so starting right now, I’m going to live my life.
I believe in balance. I believe that it’s important for you to be happy with your life, but it’s also important to make sure the world around you is happy. I don’t think I have a specific “religion.” I don’t really believe in a god, but I do believe there are certain things in your life that, as a human being, you should feel required to be.
Please don’t judge me for my beliefs. It took a lot of courage to post this, but as mentioned before, this is my blog, and I have a right to post this. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.
Week 3 in my This Modern Love series is going to be a short one.
The prompt is “What single word sums up your love life, your partner, or someone you like?”
Hi. My name is Anna. I’m 17 years old. And I share my deepest and darkest thoughts on the internet for anyone to read, and expect people not to judge me.
Hi. My name is Anna. I’m 17 years old. My mom calls me Dandy, because I always smiled really big as a kid and my hair looked like dandelion fluff. But I haven’t truly smiled in weeks.
Hi. My name is Anna. I’m 17 years old. And I am done hiding behind myself.
In War Against Reality 