Save the Story · Chapter 2 of 10

Coming of age

becoming yourself — the first jobs, the first loves, the first hard choices. Scan a square or tap Record — the paperback stays on the table; the voice stays in the app.

01 · start here
When did you first feel like a grown-up — really, not for show?
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02
What were you like as a teenager — honestly?
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03
What was the first thing you did, as a teenager, that your parents would have disapproved of if they'd known?
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04
Tell me about your first real friendship — the one outside the family.
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05
Who did you have your first big crush on?
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06
When did you first fall in love, or think you had?
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07
Was there a moment in your teens when your parents got something badly wrong?
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08
What did you want to be when you grew up — at thirteen, at sixteen, at twenty?
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09
Was there a subject at school where you came alive?
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10
Was there a subject at school you dreaded?
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11
What did you do on a Saturday night at seventeen?
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12
What was the first big argument you remember having with a parent or guardian?
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13
Was there a friend in your teens who you ended up losing — through drift, fight, distance, or death?
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14
When did you first realise that the adults around you didn't have all the answers?
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15
What music defined your teens?
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16
What did you spend your first earnings on?
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17
When did you first leave home — for a night, a week, properly?
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18
Was there a moment in your teens when you stood up to a group of friends?
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19
Did you have a mentor in your late teens or early twenties — not necessarily called that?
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20
What did you most want to escape, as a teenager?
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21
Was there a book, film, or piece of music that changed how you saw the world during this time?
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22
When did your sense of fashion or style first feel like yours, not someone else's?
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23
Was there a teacher who lit a path you ended up walking down?
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24
Tell me about the first time you really got drunk, or made another big mistake.
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25
Was there a moment in your teens when you felt seen, properly, by someone outside the family?
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26
What did you believe at eighteen that you no longer believe?
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27
Was there a place — not your home — where you felt most yourself in your teens?
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28
Did you go to university, college, or training — or skip it?
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29
What's the biggest piece of advice you wish someone had given you at twenty?
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30
When did you stop thinking of your parents as parents and start seeing them as flawed adults?
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