What is the social development of a 15-year-old?

Fifteen… man, that was a weird time. Remember fifteen? It felt like everything was changing. Suddenly, I needed my own space, you know? It wasn’t like I hated my parents or anything (I actually still loved them, deep down!), but I just… needed them to back off a little. My friends? They were EVERYTHING. Like, seriously, my entire world revolved around them. The loyalty I felt was intense. Almost tribal, looking back on it. We were in it together, against the world.

And the conversations! We could talk for hours about the dumbest stuff, but then also… really deep stuff, too. Sharing secrets, worries… I remember feeling this surge of empathy for my friends, like, really caring about their problems in a way I just hadn’t before. Like when Sarah’s grandma got sick – I remember feeling her pain so intensely. I even cried with her! Before then, I probably would’ve just patted her on the back and been like, “There, there.” It’s funny, isn’t it? How you kind of wake up to other people’s emotions at that age?

It was exhilarating, all that intensity. But scary, too. So much change. So much unknown. One minute you’re a kid, the next…well, not quite an adult, but definitely not a kid anymore. It was a real tipping point, like teetering on the edge of something huge.