A Stereotypical Life

How do we want to live our lives? Everyone, especially teenagers, want to change their lives and modify them in order to fulfill their wishes; however, many times these “wishes” directly contrast with those of others. For example, people from the United States tend to create an idealized version of Europe, where everyone always seems happy while being able to explore or travel. On the other hand, many Europeans fantasize about the “aesthetic” American way of life, dreaming of homecoming, driving around with friends, and late-night hangouts.* But why are teenagers like this? After recognizing my own desire of being in the “aesthetic” United States, I am here to offer my perspective on this phenomenon. Having lived in four culturally and environmentally-distinct countries myself, I can hopefully shed some light on the actual truths. 

For most of my childhood, I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. I must say that I enjoyed an ideal childhood, participating in numerous sports, clubs, and celebrations, including my favorite activity of Halloween trick-or-treating. 

Then, in fifth grade, I moved to Geneva, Switzerland, and stayed there until the end of the seventh grade. Geneva was a whole new experience for me, and I was able to grow and develop as a person. I gained a lot more freedom and could do nearly anything I wanted independently in the safety of the city. At the beginning of eighth grade, I moved back to Atlanta. It was then that I started to see some of the imperfect things that I had previously overlooked about the older years of school. In the so-called “high school hierarchy”, I noticed that there were different cliques, and it was hard to fit in due to my prior experience of living in Europe. While living in Geneva it was easier to make friends even with the presence of cliques. Then COVID hit, forcing the world into lockdown. During this time, many found themselves able to reflect on their lives, and take into consideration missed opportunities of the past: were we living our lives to the fullest? 

COVID also coincided with my move back to Guatemala City, which has been my least favorite place to live yet. Guatemala is generally a very conservative country with a large Catholic presence; it’s also a poor country with a lot of crime.  I lived under COVID lockdown regulations again and had much less freedom than in both Geneva and Atlanta. During my time there, I was imagining what it would be like to live back in Europe with my friends again and all of the possibilities of freedom. At the end of my ninth-grade year, my mom proposed moving to Barcelona, Spain until I graduated. I said yes, and after being here for over a year, I absolutely love the city, and would not want to be living anywhere else.

But why do Americans and Europeans make it seem like the other country is better to live in? I believe that this phenomenon depends on a couple of factors. The first, and in my opinion the most significant, is the financial situation of your family. If you live in the United States and have never moved outside of your hometown or traveled outside of the country, you are more likely to desire a new type of lifestyle, for example, those advertised on social media. For Europeans, if you have lived in Europe your whole life and have never attended an American school or visited the US, you are also more likely to want to experience the  “American aesthetic.” Secondly,  social media connects the entire world through Pinterest, TikTok, television, movies, etc. We are constantly being subjected to view what the fantasy of living in another country would be like, not the actual reality. This “perfect lifestyle” can be extremely appealing to the inexperienced youth. The final reason that explains this “grass is greener” mentality relates to the human condition of wanting to change constantly. Teenagers can’t make decisions – we say we want something, and then the next second we want something else. The same applies to life. We are constantly looking for ways to make our lifestyle stand out from those of the general population.

My final remarks are: don’t wish for someone else’s life. You need to live your own life to the fullest extent and be grateful for what you have; yes, you may want another life, but in reality, you may not actually like it.

* Source:  https://www.tiktok.com/@ivanbaps/video/7193874934693629190?q=US%20astechic&t=1676478841981

** Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Guatemala