Cages.

I am a stereotypical teen. I'm moody and whiny, and I blame everything on other people. I exaggerate everything and I'm way over-dramatic. I try vainly to impress my peers because I'm insecure and always feel like I'm not good enough. I think this society is conformist and too controlling, and by the time I'm thirty, most people my age will have no emotions.

Starting at birth, every one of us is taught that to be happy, we need a husband or wife. We need to fall in love and start a family. We need another person to "complete" us because we, ourselves, are not good enough as we are. We're not whole.

Even when I'm doing my best, I'm pressured to do better. On the rare occasion that I finally do something that I'm proud of myself for, I'm told to get back to doing my homework. Get back to studying. Get back to the important things in life that people actually care about,. not the silly things like a metaphor I thought of, or a feeling I had earlier today that made me so overwhelmingly at peace that I wanted to cry.

The truth is, I want to cry. I want to burst into tears and crumble to the ground. I want to let out all the tears I've held back because society has taught me that they show weakness.

I'm sick of being in cages.

And I'll find a way out.