Teenage Hormones

I teach two mother-daughter duos in yoga, both daughters are teenagers. This week was the first time I really remembered what it was like to be a teenager. The drama, the tears, the worry. Everything seemed so final. And you just thought things would be simpler if you were grown.  I distinctly remember having intense feelings of anger at my mother as a teenager. For doing simple things, such as having a curfew for me or not allowing me to date a senior when I was a freshman. Things that I will definitely enforce with my own daughter. I remember feeling like my mother didn't understand me and the things I was going through during that stage of my life. The pressure from peers and adults alike was exhausting. This stage of our lives was where we decided what kind of people we become. Not the job we have or the goals we set, but the actual people. We make choices in our youth that guide us with their consequences, both good and bad. Everything really is dramatic because we are becoming whole. I recognized that in both of these beautiful and full of doubt, young women this week. I know their mothers see it daily. Being a teenager was hard. Being a mom to a teenager, a million times harder. I watched these mothers with their daughters and saw the true love that is there. The struggle to help in some way and still allow their daughters to make the choices on their own. It was fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Through these teenage girls and their mothers, I remembered my life, my choices, and my feelings. I hope that it helps guide me through my mothering as the teen years approach for my daughter. It will be difficult. Awful and amazing at times. But seeing these girls this week, both at some sort of struggle, helped me to remember. That, I think, is the key. To remember and use that to help your daughter, so she can, in turn, repeat the whole process sometime in the future.