I am a teenager. Is it normal to be different?

Changes in your body and mind, in attitudes and preferences can start in your teenage years and end only when you become an adult. This is a normal and necessary process.

Physical development can vary greatly from person to person and at different speeds. This is mostly down to genetic differences.

Some grow tall, others are shorter, some experience a change in the shape of their body early in adolescence, others several years later. Ultimately, different people look different and that is perfectly normal.

Do not let yourself be daunted by the body cult you see through the media and the concept of an ‘ideal body’. Different skin, hair, and eye colours, as well as different body shapes are all beautiful in their own way and nobody is perfect.

What happens in adolescence?

  • Young people develop different interests in their adolescence, their bodies mature, and their sexuality develops.
  • It is perfectly normal to have a very strong interest in sex, or to have no interest at all.
  • You might also experience different fantasies and wonder if everything in your body is as it is supposed to be. It is all personal and normal because everyone is different. On the other hand, you should not compare your body with that of another person.

All people are born as they are and that for a good reason – every human is valuable!

The article is based on the Estonian Sexual Health Association www.seksuaaltervis.ee website.

The Estonian Sexual Health Association is an advocacy organisation for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Published in the youth information portal Teeviit in 2022.

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