Open Book: Weight Of A Heavy World
Family, Friends, Help To Navigate Rough Times
By Anya Nitczynski
For the GPHN
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Every now and again I find myself sighing and thinking about how strange it is growing up in our world. Maybe it’s always felt that way, for everyone. No matter when you were born, you have struggles and so does the world. But wow.
I found myself really confronted with the reality of just how rough it can get growing up in this world after reading a recent article in the Washington Post by Caitlin Gibson. The article, headlined “It’s a scary time to be growing up,” goes into detail about how families — ones with Gen Z kids and Gen X parents specifically — are navigating our world amongst racism, COVID-19, climate change, etc.
I am lucky to be growing up in a family where we actively talk about and share our experiences around world issues, and I’m grateful I have access to good education surrounding those things as well. Along with my family, I have a fantastic set of friends who intelligently and eloquently engage in discussion with me, helping to keep me sane in the face of feeling overwhelmed by our world.
The Post article details a poll of kids my age from 2005 and then 2021, asking whether it’s a good time or bad time to be growing up, at the time the poll was taken. The results are drastically different. A definitive majority of people in 2005 said it was a good time to be growing up, but teens in 2021 are almost split down the middle answering that question. Maybe it really is harder to be growing up now than it has been in the past (of course my point of view is one of a white person, meaning throughout history I would be favored by our systems and patriarchy in opposition to minority groups. My experiences are very different because of my privilege.)
The same poll also shows that teens today largely describe having a positive relationship with their parents. Having good support systems, especially during trying times like these is essential. The pandemic is (of course) the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about things that we’ve dealt with this year. There have been so many losses that after a while, they almost seem somewhat normal. There was also an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol in January, and it feels like it was brushed off as just another one of the pandemic’s curses. Processing the fact that neo-Nazis broke into our Capitol is the very beginning of what my support system has done for me.
I’ve gotten wonderful and life-changing opportunities this year that have helped me process everything the world has thrown at us. I’ve been able to sit down and discuss what’s going on and how I feel as a form of healing with my friends and family, and I want to invite you to do the same. Allow yourself to feel the toughness of being alive right now. Don’t write off your fear, sadness, or anger. Don’t let it sit and stir, and don’t let it get the best of you.
Anya Nitczynski is a freshman at Denver School of the Arts. Her column appears monthly in these pages.