The Intimacy of a Teenage Room

When we’re teenagers (and young adults) we’re experiencing and interpreting the world for the first time. We’re experiencing new emotions, new places, new pop-culture, and new ideas! When we’re teenagers we are able to form our own opinions and they’re our opinions. Not only that, but we have the ability to act on these opinions most often for the first time. 

When we’re teenagers our room is our safe haven. If your parents are anything like mine you’ve probably heard the sentence, “who pays the bills for this house?” Or “who does this house belong to?” thrown around quite a bit. Though this might be true, the teenage room feels like a slight exception to this rule. It might be their house, but it’s my room. It’s my little morsel and my little corner of the world where I can feel comfortable and be myself. It’s the only place where we can do whatever we want. It’s the only place that truly belongs to us. 

When we’re teenagers we take our new opinions and the comfort of our room and combine them. We take everything we love and throw it on our walls. We use our rooms as a form of self-expression. We use our rooms as a source of inspiration, a source of passion, and a source of happiness. There is more chaos than a typical adult bedroom, why? Because there’s just no reason for order. I have a wall in my room, covered from top to bottom with art projects, photographs, posters, memorabilia and more. It’s quite chaotic, but it also adds a lot of character to my room. Why do I have it? Because I can. Because I like it. And when you’re a teenager that’s enough.

We love music. We love movies. We love our friends. We love feeling alive. Most of all, we love feeling surrounded by the things we love. That’s what makes a teenage room so intimate and so raw. We love something, and there’s nothing stopping us from displaying that love however we see fit. No status quo’s, no interior design, no awkward comments from guests or minimalistic agendas being shoved down our throats quite yet. 

So, put up that damn poster or two, or three, blast your favorite music, and dance around your room for a couple of minutes. Take it all in. It might not be like this forever, so appreciate the unique beauty you’ve instilled in it at this moment.