Introduction

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“Snow and Adolescence are the only two things that disappear if you ignore them long enough”
- Earl Wilson, former major league baseball pitcher

Adolescence is a very unique period of developmental time period that for all of us included significant changes in biological, social, and cognitive dimensions. For example, experiences such as going through the pubertal growth spurt, initiation to dating, and re-evaluating aspects of our own identity probably evoked feelings of anxiety and fear, but also excitement and accomplishment. Yet whether the overall experience was positive or negative, we could always count on this time period eventually coming to an end for us – but when exactly? Or more simply, when were we even sure it had even really started? Was it truly one specific trigger or a number of changes? What boundaries between childhood and adolescence as well as between adolescence and adulthood make the most sense to you, based on your experiences?

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Ask yourself: How would you describe adolescence and how would you define when it begins and ends based on your personal experiences?

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“I guess this is part of being an adolescent. It’s all about trying to find yourself (no emo jokes intended). I am currently on a massive journey-no, hunt- doing just that. I wish I saw everything a lot clearer so this would be easier to sort though.”

“One part of being an adolescent is negotiating the transition from being a child, most of the features of whose lives are determined by parents, to being an adult, who is responsible for him- or herself. When you’re a child, you don’t have to take responsibility for the really big decisions. Your parents may put you in charge of feeding the dog or cleaning your room, but they will typically not allow you to decide whether to drop out of school, or to train full-time to be an Olympic athlete, or to stow away on a ship bound for South America (as I once tried to do. I didn’t get very far.)”

“I’m lost between begin an adolescent and an adult. I’m lost between college and graduate school. I’m lost between wanting to be young and knowing how important it is to appear like an adult. I’m lost between professions and grad degrees. I’m lost between wanting life to be religiously meaningful and not wanting to think about anything that maybe doesn’t exist. I’m lost between hook-ups and marriage. I’m lost between work and play.”