A good friend of mine is now a middle school teacher, teaching 6th grade. She started this past Winter and I always look forward to catching up with her to hear about how work is going. I’m fascinated by her stories because her job’s responsibilities are on the complete opposite side of spectrum from what I do on a day-to-day basis. I’ve always heard that teaching middle school is the most difficult and frustrating grade to deal with. It’s the same reasoning for everyone I’ve received feedback from; middle school houses the most difficult age group- The “Tweens”. The pre-pubescent. The awkward, uncomfortable, not-so much children, but not quite yet teenagers age group. They’re still trying to grow into their own skin and don’t really know what they’re doing or who they want to be.

I’ve always found this age group to be the most irritating. They’re witty, yet irrational. They think outside of the box, but only see things from their point of view. They think they know it all, but are still trying to figure it all out. It’s an ongoing chain of contradictions. It’s annoying.

Now that I’m older, I look back on my earlier years and laugh at how ridiculous I was. I, too, was once in that age group and behaved the exact same way as my friend’s middle school students behave.

When I talk to my friends now, I’ve began to notice a similar pattern. Being in this age group is not so different from those awkward tween years. A lot of people I know are all on the same boat of trying to figure themselves out, find what they want to do for a living, and understand who they really are as a person. It seems to me that a lot of my friends are more lost than ever. We just got better at hiding it.

The 20’s are a time of self-discovery and paving the way to later adulthood. However, we still want to have fun and experience life. This is the time for us to be selfish before even thinking of settling down and getting married, having kids, and being responsible for lives other than our own. Similar to those tweens, people in their 20’s are trying to grow into their own skin.

The 20-somethings are the adult version of puberty. We’re almost at adulthood, but not quite yet.