--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think that it's hard enough being an…" description: "\"I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and wanting so much to fit in with your peers, your schoolmates, and to erase any sign of difference,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b5/natasha-trethewey-7684_adolescent_i-think-that-it-s-hard-enough-being-an-a_1045008.png" --- # I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and… ![“I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and wanting so much to fit in with your peers, your schoolmates, and to erase any sign of difference, to be part of the group. And being biracial but also being black in a predominately white school marked me as different.” quote by Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b5/natasha-trethewey-7684_adolescent_i-think-that-it-s-hard-enough-being-an-a_1045008.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b5/natasha-trethewey-7684_adolescent_i-think-that-it-s-hard-enough-being-an-a_1045008.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b5/natasha-trethewey-7684_adolescent_i-think-that-it-s-hard-enough-being-an-a_1045008.png) > “I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and wanting so much to fit in with your peers, your schoolmates, and to erase any sign of difference, to be part of the group. And being biracial but also being black in a predominately white school marked me as different.” [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Navigates adolescent pressure to conform while feeling racial otherness in a white‑dominant school. **In simple terms:** Struggles to fit in and hide biracial identity. Key Takeaway Embrace authentic identity despite peer pressure. Themes identity race adolescence conformity belonging Mood thoughtful empathetic hopeful Type social personal When to use this quote - high school - friend groups - cultural events - self‑acceptance Key Concepts racial identity social integration Questions to Reflect On - How does your background shape your sense of belonging? - What ways can you celebrate uniqueness? A Different Perspective Pressure to assimilate can cause self‑loss. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adolescent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescent/) [Adolescent Wanting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescent-wanting-2465213/) [Also](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/also/) [Any](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/any/) [Being](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being/) [Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black/) [Black Predominately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-predominately-2465212/) [Difference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difference/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Erase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/erase/) [Fit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fit/) [Group](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/group/) [Group Biracial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/group-biracial-2465216/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Hard Adolescent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard-adolescent-2465215/) [I think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-think/) [Marked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marked/) [Me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/me/) [Much](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/much/) [Part](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/part/) [Peers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peers/) [Peers Schoolmates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peers-schoolmates-2465214/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [Sign](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sign/) [Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think/) [Wanting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanting/) [White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white/) [Your](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your/) ## Related quotes > [The wonderful thing about maths is it's a totally logical subject, and a pathway has been marked out. 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There wasn’t a boy or a man on that lake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lora-leigh/that-night-we-danced-i-marked-you-as-mine-and-i-made-it-stick-there/) [Lora Leigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lora-leigh/) > [My childhood was marked by seizures, which my family interpreted as temper tantrums.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-fraser/my-childhood-was-marked-by-seizures-which-my-family-interpreted-as/) [Sylvia Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-fraser/) > [The post-Cold War order in Europe is finished, with Vladimir Putin its executioner. Russia's invasion of Georgia only marked its passing. Russia has emerged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-krastev/the-post-cold-war-order-in-europe-is-finished-with-vladimir-putin-its/) [Ivan Krastev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-krastev/) > [My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/my-working-and-personal-relationship-with-president-obama-is-marked/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) ## More by Natasha Trethewey > [I was always very aware of the nature of the place where I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi, how that place was shaping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/i-was-always-very-aware-of-the-nature-of-the-place-where-i-was/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [My own journey in becoming a poet began with memory - with the need to record and hold on to what was being lost.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/my-own-journey-in-becoming-a-poet-began-with-memory-with-the-need-to/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [“the little fires set the flames of an idea licking the page how knowledge burns”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/the-little-fires-set-the-flames-of-an-idea-licking-the-page-how/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [I think there is a poem out there for everyone, to be an entrance into the poetry and a relationship with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/i-think-there-is-a-poem-out-there-for-everyone-to-be-an-entrance-into/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [When I write notes in my journal, I'm just trying to scribble down as much as possible. Later on, I decide whether to follow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/when-i-write-notes-in-my-journal-i-m-just-trying-to-scribble-down-as/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [“Here is the threshold I do not cross: a sliver of light through the doorway finds his tattoo, the anchor on his forearm tangled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/here-is-the-threshold-i-do-not-cross-a-sliver-of-light-through-the/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [I started out in graduate school to be a fiction writer. I thought I wanted to write short stories. I started writing poems at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/i-started-out-in-graduate-school-to-be-a-fiction-writer-i-thought-i/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [My mother and my father divorced during the time that my father was getting his Ph.D. at Tulane.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/my-mother-and-my-father-divorced-during-the-time-that-my-father-was/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [My father, Eric Trethewey, is a poet, so I had one right inside the house. And on long trips, he'd tell me, if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/my-father-eric-trethewey-is-a-poet-so-i-had-one-right-inside-the/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [I've been telling my students, 'Imitate, imitate.' And they say, 'Well, what if I plagiarize, or what if I'm not original? 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It called on her in most painful ways,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/jesmyn-ward-left-her-gulf-coast-home-for-education-and-experience-but/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [My name is Natasha Trethewey, and I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1966, exactly 100 years to the day that Mississippi celebrated the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/my-name-is-natasha-trethewey-and-i-was-born-in-gulfport-mississippi/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [“I read the line over and over as if I might discern the little fires set the flames of an idea licking the page…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/i-read-the-line-over-and-over-as-if-i-might-discern-the-little-fires/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) [Explore all 88 Natasha Trethewey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) ## More Adolescent quotes > [“Adolescent youths cry out for us to help them contextualize their life experiences.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-gurian/adolescent-youths-cry-out-for-us-to-help-them-contextualize-their/) [Michael Gurian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-gurian/) > [“It’s too easy to follow bad but attractive leaders, embrace pleasurable but destructive habits, ignore looming disaster because maybe it won’t happen after all—or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-e-butler/it-s-too-easy-to-follow-bad-but-attractive-leaders-embrace/) [Octavia E. Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-e-butler/) > [“I will never be crazy," repeats the adolescent hero to herself. "I will never get killed. I have to grow up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-will-never-be-crazy-repeats-the-adolescent-hero-to-herself-i-will/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A lot of people pass off adolescent depression as something trivial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lacey-sturm/a-lot-of-people-pass-off-adolescent-depression-as-something-trivial/) [Lacey Sturm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lacey-sturm/) > [Why do people stop developing, or, like they stop the way you can rate their, psychologically, their development? Where they stop, and just from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edie-sedgwick/why-do-people-stop-developing-or-like-they-stop-the-way-you-can-rate/) [Edie Sedgwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edie-sedgwick/) > [There's only one thing harder than living in a home with an adolescent - and that's being an adolescent. The moodiness, the volatility, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-kluger/there-s-only-one-thing-harder-than-living-in-a-home-with-an/) [Jeffrey Kluger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-kluger/) > [Mozart was very much an arrested adolescent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-curry/mozart-was-very-much-an-arrested-adolescent/) [Tim Curry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-curry/) > [When I was nine, we moved to Stanford University in San Francisco so that my father could do a Ph.D. I went to Terman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-lawrence/when-i-was-nine-we-moved-to-stanford-university-in-san-francisco-so/) [Caroline Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-lawrence/) > [“There is so much woman in many a girl and too much boy in many a man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/there-is-so-much-woman-in-many-a-girl-and-too-much-boy-in-many-a-man/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“I've had a great deal of experience with adolescents over the centuries, and I've discovered that as a group these awkward half children take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-had-a-great-deal-of-experience-with-adolescents-over-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Adolescents are still children in that they can't yet tell the difference between make believe and fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/adolescents-are-still-children-in-that-they-can-t-yet-tell-the/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [“Capture your youth, while you can.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/capture-your-youth-while-you-can/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [Adults forget the depths of languor into which the adolescent mind decends with ease. They are prone to undervalue the mental growth that occurs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/adults-forget-the-depths-of-languor-into-which-the-adolescent-mind/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Music, especially as an adolescent, helps to build identity because that's when people start developing a sense of self. You can kind of tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aloe-blacc/music-especially-as-an-adolescent-helps-to-build-identity-because/) [Aloe Blacc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aloe-blacc/) > [Babies did not attract me, and I was altogether without the maternal sense so highly developed in small and adolescent girls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-levi-montalcini/babies-did-not-attract-me-and-i-was-altogether-without-the-maternal/) [Rita Levi-Montalcini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-levi-montalcini/) [Browse all 151 Adolescent quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescent/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think that it's hard enough being an adolescent and wanting so much to fit in with your peers, your schoolmates, and to erase any sign of difference, to be part of the group. 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