2025-04-04 – News – www.theguardian.com
Lots of adolescents like you missed out on key developmental stages during Covid. Taking risks is scary – but so is missing opportunities
Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader
I’m 16 and have never really had crushes. Along with that, I moved around a lot as a kid and never really had many friends until year 7. I’ve struggled a lot with maintaining friendships and I’ve always felt a bit awkward and isolated from my peers. I guess part of it was Covid; I never really developed social skills and have always relied on others to help me make friends.
Recently, I met this really nice guy at a debate competition. He seemed genuinely interested in me and kept trying to talk to me. I liked talking to him; it felt really comfortable. For the first time, it felt as if I had met someone I “clicked” with. I actively sought out interactions with him and was praying he’d be on my team, which he was. I just thought I liked him as a friend at first, so I…
