Hashtag Magazine 1 | Page 28

Layout by Suzanne Pagkaliwangan Have you ever been in an awkward stage? Well I’ve been there. Every teens experience that awkward stage but I think it is more common with girls especially in their puberty stage that makes their confidence grind down; it takes 3 to 4 years before you can return to that typical teenager but for me it took 7 long years before I got back to the usual me and bloomed into a lady.Yes it’s really hard to be a teenager because it’s not magic and it takes years to bloom. When I was a kid others would thought me to be the cutest kid in town until puberty striked me. The signs of my transition from being a child to being a teen came out and started as early as when I was ten years old. I started getting acne, overgrown feet, often a mess of glasses and thin legs. In short I really looked awkward. My awkward stage was tough on me, although I am friends with the “famous” girls of our school. I always thought that I dont get much attention as with them. I always get teased by my classmates for my looks and that’s the only time I got their attention but that was painful. During that time my self-esteem was nearing to the ground and I was always self-conscious. My awkward stage lasted for 7 years and when I was sixteen I realized that the marks of my awkward stage started disappearing and I was slowly emerging into a lady that even I didn’t expect that I would bloom so much. 28 Although I bloomed into somehow a fine-looking girl, I’m not as beautiful as other girls, but the important thing I learned during my awkward stage is that I need to be a better version of myself, not for others, but for my own happiness. When I go back in time, I will not change how I was in my awkward stage because it makes me who I am now that makes myself complete and whenever I see my old pictures and my current I couldn’t be happier that an ugly duckling can bloom into a beautiful swan.