Two of my children are approaching their teen years. They’re tweens, in today’s language. And their tweenitude comes with a healthy dose of insecurity, embarrassment, and self-centeredness. Everyone else is looking at them, making fun of them, and trying to be better than them.

I remembered that phase of my life when looking at Facebook posts about my high school’s 25th reunion this month.

(Shut up. Yes, I’m THAT old.)

I couldn’t make it all the way back to California. But I didn’t need to be there to be affected by it. When I flipped through Facebook photos and my old yearbooks, all the old feelings came flooding back. Shyness. Insecurity. Fear. Intimidation.

That’s adolescence for all of us, right? Right? We were all insecure then, right?

Well, except for those cheerleaders. The ones in eighth grade who scowled when my friend accidentally launched a pushup popsicle across the lunch area toward their table. And my group dissolved in hysterics. Clearly, they really THOUGHT they were better than we were. THEY weren’t insecure. THEY were the enemy, out to get us.

And those volleyball players. And the drama geeks. And the band kids. And the FFA’ers. (I grew up in central California, okay? Future Farmers of America was BIG there.)

THEY weren’t insecure. THEIR egos were inflated. I could totally tell by how I felt when I was around them. CLEARLY they made it their goal to wound MY ego.

Clearly. I didn’t (don’t!) have an ego.

Right?

***

e·go [ee-goh, eg-oh]

egotism; conceit; self-importance: Her ego becomes more unbearable each day.

self-esteem or self-image; feelings: Your criticism wounded his ego.

***

How different are they, really? Does that cheerleader from 8th grade describe ME in the same way?

Something to think about.

Originally posted at: The Red Clay Diaries

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Ergo, ego