ASSIGNMENT Section 5: Puberty - short term pleasure, long term happiness

Q. Puberty is an important and difficult time for most individuals. What emotional and psychological changes did you experience? Was your peer group helpful during this period?  

 

A. During puberty when I was in middle school, I have experienced many emotional and psychological changes just like my peers. I started to care more about others' views of me than before puberty. I started to care about my appearance. I tried a new hairstyle that one of my friends recommended to me.

 

I bought new different style glasses. I started to buy a lot of clothes and care about cloth brands. I could have learned many new styles that I had never tried before from my peer group at that time and found some styles fit well with me. 

 

But after middle school and getting into high school, my emotional and psychological changes again. I have realized buying new stuff like clothes, shoes can give me short-term pleasure but not long-term happiness. Also buying new stuff costs money so it is definitely not sustainable.

 

After realizing it, of course, I tried to find a way to pursue long-term happiness instead of short-term pleasure and the way can satisfy both short-term pleasure and long-term happiness. 

 

I found out relationships with people I care about and recognizing situations in a positive way can bring me long-term happiness. Spending time with my friends and family who I sincerely love was the thing that made me happy.

 

I also learned that even in the most desperate situation, there was always something I could learn from it. Trying to find positive aspects of any situation strengthens my self-esteem, and makes me love myself and be happy.

 

I tried many things to find what I love to do because I thought doing something I love can give me both short-term pleasure and long-term happiness. It was making music for me. I have always wanted to make some music. I searched about it and learned it from Youtube. Making music is one of my favorite hobbies and I'm passionate about it. Hopefully, I can make some money from it someday.