[MuddyBoots]

Just saw a meme with a woman with a "holy shyt" facial expression and the text said "when I remember that my ex bestie and I used to cut ourselves together when we were 13." Feels like a normal stage for adolescences to have. There's the experimenting stage which generally is with other people, then some people decide it's not their thing, and some get an unhealthy obsession. Like substances and BDSM.

I am starting to learn that my childhood was a little different than a lot of other people's though, so I'm just really curious if this was just a thing people did or if I just happen to be close to people just as screwed up as me.

[divine1966]

Although self-harm does happen to teens among other attempts to self medicate and cope, it’s not a normal stage of development at all. That’s not the thing “people do” especially not with others. But it’s a well known ways of coping/masking pain etc among teens AND adults. Along with other self medication etc

Teenage years are tough.

[MuddyBoots]

I mean now that I think about it we also threw broken glass each other, stole canoes from the neighbors, and flashed old men as minors so when I did something with her I probably shouldn't assume everything we do is something everyone did.

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by MuddyBoots

I mean now that I think about it we also threw broken glass each other, stole canoes from the neighbors, and flashed old men as minors so when I did something with her I probably shouldn't assume everything we do is something everyone did.

No, not necessarily, not everyone did the exact same things, but almost everyone did some weird or outlandish or strange or silly things in teenage years. That’s part of growing up. It’s not just in the past. Teens do dumb stuff now. And will in the future. That just does not change

[MuddyBoots]

Yeah, everyone did stupid shyt, I get that. My dad got drunk and stole ice cream trucks after making "street lightning" (haven't been able to find what that is online anywhere so it must've been a term he and his block made up, but I'll tell you it is something I'm pretty sure only psychopaths do), I threw glass at my best friend's eye, and now they're eating tide pods. I miss those prefrontal cortex pre-development times (although I'm pretty sure most people on this site for themselves probably has some sort of PFC abnormalities/malfunctions).

I just find it kinda funny how adolescent brain stupid decisions run from telling their parents they're spending a night at a same-sex friend's house when they spend the night with their SO and not even having (unprotected) sex to shooting up (maybe heroin, maybe the school. Maybe both. Idk)