Sharing some joy
While preparing for our Common Ground Teen Center Writing Club, I found responses to a prompt I gave a few years ago to a group of my favorite students – middle schoolers. I share them to brighten your day.
The question was: If you could change anything in your life, what would you do to bring you joy right now? Some answers:
I’d get my own room. Sharing with my 10-year-old sister is the worst. She’s such a mess. I love her but I’d love her more if she wasn’t always hanging around me.
- – 14-year-old
- Our dog died last month. I’d bring him back. I guess that’s not possible, so I’d like a new dog. – 13-year-old
- I’d slow down my family. We’re always running in a hundred directions. I have soccer and cheerleading, my brother has hockey, my sister has softball and lacrosse, our parents work a lot. I just would like time to stay home together and just hang out. Maybe we need a vacation! – 13-year-old
- I want a girlfriend. No body knows this. I don’t know how to talk to anybody I like. Maybe I’ll get better at this. I hope so. – 13-year-old
- I know this is weird, but I really wish puberty would start. I am sick of being the shortest guy in gym. I need muscles. While I’m wishing, I want to be tall, too. – 14-year-old
- My grandma has cancer. I want it to go away. – 13-year-old
- Move to Florida so I can be near my grandparents. – 13-year-old
- I want to pass my social studies test next period. Better yet, I don’t want to have a test at all and I want an A in the class! – 13-year-old
- I’d go to the beach. With my friends, not with my family. – 14-year-old
- I wish I was old enough to drive. – 14-year-old
- – Right now? I’m hungry for pizza! – 14-year-old
- I’d like a best friend. I don’t need a bunch of friends. I just want one. But this best friend needs to really understand me. And keep my secrets. And tutor me in math! – 14-year-old
My parents fight all the time. I think they’re going to split up. I want them to love each other again.
- – 13-year-old
- No offense, but I want to leave this school and go to another one. I can’t say which one because you might think I’m a quitter. I just don’t fit in here. – 14-year-old
- If I could change anything at all to give me joy right now, I would be popular. – 13-year-old
- I’d like to be an athlete. Maybe a quarterback. – 14-year-old
- It would bring me joy right now if I could tell my parents I’m gay. – 14-year-old
- I totally blew a quiz last period. I’d like to change the grade. – 13-year-old
I think it’s selfish to think only of me. If I could change one thing to bring me joy, I would make it so my mom had another baby. She was pregnant last year and lost the baby. No one told me but I figured it out. She’s a good mom. I wish she could get pregnant again.
- – 13-year-old
Author’s note: A reader connected with me after last week’s column about Lyme disease. He shared what to do if a tick is found. Put the tick in a vial (like a pill case) and mail to Tick Research Lab, Suite 114, 562 Independence Road, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301.
Have a question? Send it to Dr. Mary Jo Podgurski’s email podmj@healthyteens.com.