Dear Journal,

I am getting really tired of this.

No, like, seriously, I've been dealing with this for a while now, and I'm at my breaking point. I don't know if it's me, if it's my parents, if it's because I'm a teenager, or because of the stresses of high school, or because…

I've run out of reasons, but there are probably more out there.

The teenager idea popped up first because it seems most viable. I mean, the stereotypical teen image is a rebel *cough*PUNK*cough who goes against his parents, who has a moody, bad attitude, who does whatever he wants just because.

Check all the above.

I've effectively just told my parents to buzz off (more politely than that) when they kept telling me to do something that I felt was not the best course of action.

I've demolished plans because I didn't feel like following them. I have to be in the mood to do something, else it'll a, not get done, or b, be a complete failure.

I've become very reclusive. Being holed up in my study for years with little interaction with anyone, even my best friends Sam and Tucker, was not the best thing for me, because while I am successful in all that I pursue, my social skills fail. I'm diplomatic, true, and I can be a good friend. But there comes a point at an unreasonably soon time…when I don't want to be around anyone anymore. I now recognize a need to be in that reclusive study, to be completely alone without anyone but my thoughts. I don't even get on Facebook.

I've come to hate repetition. Don't repeat things to me without just cause. I get very frustrated when someone keeps asking me the same question, unless they've forgotten the answer. That exception only holds when they've forgotten the answer once, maybe twice. Not five times. Not when I've emphatically said my answer several times. I get irritated when someone says something and I nod affirmatively in plain sight or 'mm-hmm' in obvious agreement and they say 'huh?' like I didn't respond or like I'm being difficult by not giving an answer. I get impatient when someone says a line, an order, a sentence, a word, anything over and over again to me because the halfa here is not deaf. Despite common belief, I always listen. I just don't always do.

I've been told that as a child, I was incredibly stubborn. That's probably still true, although I do break more easily now.

There's only one discrepancy I see: I do things because I believe in them.

I do what I think is right. I've got a reason. So will they stop badgering and nagging me mercilessly?

That's the thing that's getting to me. Not being able to do what I think is right and carry out my own actions as I see fit.

It's my life. I'm the one going through school, living as a teenager in this day and age. I'm the one meeting the people, in direct contact with the situations. I understand what's happening, and how I should react.

Not all the time. I'm not claiming to know everything. I'm not saying that I'll always do the right or best thing.

But I have a good hand on it. I want to make my own decisions. I am willing to make mistakes and to take responsibility regardless of whether or not there are ramifications.

So let me.

The time of guidance is over. I will ask for it if I don't know what to do, but I've already been raised.

Am I completely independent? No. A mixture of this society's disregards for teenagers and the government's laws curb my independence.

But I'm older now. I rationalize. I have opinions on matters and a sense of justice. I'm not saying a younger child doesn't; mine's just more developed. The "do it because I said so and I think it's right" that people say is not good enough for me anymore. I will "do it because I think it's right."

They've claimed they want to be friends with me when I grow up and they no longer wield the 'parental influence,' as I call it. They don't realize they always will; that's why I cave in to them.

That's why this 'friendship' is going to be hard to work out. In a friendship, the two sides are equal. One doesn't hold more control than the other. Neither side is bossy, for lack of a better word.

You've got to stop. Stop pushing your beliefs and opinions on me. I do not agree with all of them, I do not appreciate it, and it hurts to tell you so.

Can you please, just stop?

-Danny