Member advice on personal safety

As a teenager myself there are many issues in my life that come hand in hand with safety and health. Being the age I am I feel this review will be better received if I try and reach the audiance that I'm from myself, and discuss the main parts of keeping safe as a teen, rather than fill it up with stories of how sometimes women are unfortunate enough to be walking down the wrong dark alley, although you've got to remember that only happens an incredibly ...
...the sometimes disturbing world that we live in, and here comes my story.

When I was 13/14, I found alcohol. Most of the people around me discovered it around the same time as me, if they hadn't already, this lead to weekends becoming nights feuled off beer we couldn't really handle and wine the girls had stolen off their parents. This later turned to downing straight vodka and people finding that cheaper alcohol leads to more alcohol ... more

As a teenager myself there are many issues in my life that come hand in hand with safety and health. Being the age I am I feel this review will be better received if I try and reach the audiance that I'm from myself, and discuss the main parts of keeping safe as a teen, rather than fill it up with stories of how sometimes women are unfortunate enough to be walking down the wrong dark alley, although you've got to remember that only happens an incredibly tiny percentage of the time. It's all about surviving in the sometimes disturbing world that we live in, and here comes my story.

When I was 13/14, I found alcohol. Most of the people around me discovered it around the same time as me, if they hadn't already, this lead to weekends becoming nights feuled off beer we couldn't really handle and wine the girls had stolen off their parents. This later turned to downing straight vodka and people finding that cheaper alcohol leads to more alcohol that leads to being more drunk, so Lambrini started making appearances. No drink was too far, and for some people this was going to become too much.

My area is filled with dark places where either street lights don't work or they were ever installed, and in your youth you're going to always hear crazy stories - one that spread around our village was about someone being raped in a play area when they were drunk and possibly drugged up (by their own doing), the truth to that sort of hear'say is always questionable, but it's a situation you can find yourself in. The things you hear on the news and then transformed into dramas for the TV do actually happen, which is why I'd advise people not to get too drunk to a stage where they are going to put themselves in danger.

No one in my family has ever had to put up with something as traumatic as some of the situations you hear about, especially some of the local ones to me such as the Soham murders and then a couple of years you may remember coverage on the news of a young woman going missing on New Years Eve in Cambs and then her body turned up in the village next to mine, which is about a 5 minute walking distance from the edge. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. New laws introduced are making rape cases even more shocking, because in some cases if a girl has got so drunk he has consented to it, things turned legal. By all means if it's consented then you can't lock the guy away, but how did they get themselves in that situation in the first place?

Also walking around on your own on these nights, especially in the Winter, whether you're drunk or not you never know of the dangers that may lurk ahead. I know people, and people through people, who have or do use drugs and have had the paranoia factor walking around and especially when they're walking home. With your senses off how can you be sure that paranoia is not founded? You could never know who might be following you. One thing that has began coming into the media just recently is about iPods as you're walking around, they can limit your hearing. I also find if I have a hood up, even if it's just a jacket hood protecting you from the rain, it can limit your vision and it can be those split seconds when someone is coming up behind you/from the side. I may sound like a worrier, but doesn't everyone have those moments when they get a little scared. Fear is normal.

I heard there could be laws that prevent you using your mobile phone or listening to music as you're crossing the road, it's rumours that I believe were sparked by the case of a boy waiting at a train station and didn't hear his train coming leading to him sticking his head out in its path. They could keep you safe from accidents, but that doesn't prevent you from being thrown when you're listening to music or on your mobile nowhere near a busy road.

Many people feel better when they're on their mobiles to someone as they're walking along, and I can see the added comfort there, although that's not always practical really. You can't think that every night is going to be your night, although I'm not saying let your guard down so much that you're not prepared for any unfortunate incident that could occur. I think it is always a good idea to make sure you have credit on your phone, and if you feel uncomfortable by perhaps someone following you nearby put your phone ready so you only have to press one button to get your call through to home or whoever you want to phone. If you're that sure that somethings going to happen, just phone someone and tell them where you are and what the situation is and say that you just want to speak until you're safe. If they laugh, who cares, chances are they won't. Of course follow the obvious things as well, always take the most direct and well lit route. Don't ask for trouble.

ICE is something that was introduced quite a while back, standing for 'incase of emergency', you're supposed to save the number that is your number one priority if you are in some sort of accident under the name ICE. To be honest I don't think has ever caught on, I've never done it myself, wouldn't it make more sense if you saved your number one priority number as something like 1? At least it would appear first on your mobile then. If I was in a rush to phone someone in an emergency or someone phoned the top number on my phone because I'm in an accident chances are they'd be phoning either someone I don't even really like or someone I haven't spoken to in months, if not years.

Smoking is a big deal when you do it for the first time, well it was for me anyway when I was young, hoping no one would see me. I didn't even really know how to do it, I wouldn't be surprised if I looked for instructions on the pack. Whilst this review is about keeping safe, it's not all getting mugged when you're not expecting it, keep your body safe from things like smoke. Cigarettes are a very tempting comodity when you're young, and in can be easy to smoke under peer pressure. I've never felt pressured, although I'm sure there are many people around me that have and many more further afield that smoke for the image of looking 'cool'.

That makes me think of when I was sitting in the doctors just today (I've got an ingrown toenail that's become infected, lovely) and there's a poster on there of a gorilla eating a banana with the slogan, "You try and tell him fruit and veg isn't cool." Are teenagers really as fickle when it comes to image as children are went it comes to eating food that's good for them? I guess it's almost a guaranteed yes to that.

Everything seems like a big deal when you're younger, scared of going home smelling of smoke to your parents and even after consuming two sips of WKD you think you might be drunk. Looking back I can feel like an idiot for some of the things I've done, but for the majority I laugh because teens are great years, especially the earlier ones. I'm kind of at a cross roads right now, waiting to become 18. You may have heard a lot about 'fags' and heard the phrase, "Give me ends," along with where have you hidden the 'bong' and talk of ALL sorts of different drugs, whether or not things have got worse over the years is up for debate but there's certainly a lot more awareness about it all now. And it's true, it will harm your health. With new legislation about where you can smoke coming in, and all these revelations about second hand smoke doing more time, it should be interesting to see how everything pans out and if it does set a new example for the youth.

Sex. Gone are the days of the sniggers over sex education, people are informed at this age, for the most part anyway - I really wonder about others and how much danger they've putting themselves and their partner in - but with things like birth control and periods when you hit a certain age life starts to look a bit more complicated. Stay safe in bed kids, and I generally think there's more of a positive attitude around staying a virgin until 16 than is portrayed in say the films. I know virgins that are over 16, and I know girls who haven't found the right guy yet. It's strange because these are some people that were a lot more 'slutty' when they were younger, but they just never went the full hual and I would THINK they're happy for it that way. I've never really asked most of them.

I'm not really a good example, I'm no young father by any means but I lost my virginity at age 15 and protection was the last thing on my mind because I realised I was going to make a big step in my life at this point. Nothing bad came of it, although when I told my close friends I didn't use a condom they slated me a bit - kind of like the adverts they've started to show on TV and radio lately. This was before the bulk of them were released and it's generally true that the attitude is use protection - not because of the pregnancy aspect but because of the STI's/STD's. I'm not one to get worked up by what people think though, so I didn't really take it on board. Right now this girl is actually expecting her first child, no it's not mine. I don't mind the idea of being a young daddy, but at the end of the day it's just a fantasy because I know I couldn't cope with it, maybe mentally but not financially.

Whether you're a guy or a girl that sleeps around, you still get a reputation as a slut nowadays. I could go into stories of sexual encounters that haven't had the most pleasent results but I think I'm just about done on this subject, just make sure you know what's you're doing when you're planning on staying safe in the bedroom, or where ever your partner has left you. I feel like an old man.

Growing up you obviously heard the tales of how your body is going to change and well one thing that changed about me was a health problem. It's always embarrassing to talk about problems 'down below' as people who can't get the words out put it, and we should talk about it more. But we're never going to. It took until last year, which was probably a year in itself after I'd found that I had a lump on one of my testicles. You need to keep your body safe health wise just as much as you do want to keep yourself safe from having other issues, that is why I decided to include this sensitive issue.

After finally telling my mum, not feeling up to booking the appointment myself, I got her to book me a time and a place to see the doctor so that I couldn't get out of it. There I found out I had a varicocele, and whilst it's not life threatening it is something that can harm your chances of having children. Following that were awkward appearances at the hospital, one time was a consultation, then the next was a scan. You will have seen on TV most likely those ultrascan machines where they put the gel on the scanning thing and put it over the womans stomache when they're checking a baby. It was exactly the same situation for me, only the scanner was on my balls. I was made to feel really comfortable so having many different guys fiddling with me over a short space of time, something highly unusual might I add for my own peace of mind, didn't seem as bad as you could build it up to be in your mind.

Upon the final consultation I was told that they did not want to remove the varicocele, which is basically veins where there's too much blood so they've gone bigger - or something like that, and if I ever want to have children it's a matter of wait and see really. Quite a shocking thing to be told but I try not to think about it. There was further bad news though and they described it as 'specs of cancer', there's no real evidence that what they see is definitly going to lead to cancer but some professionals think it will, whilst others don't. Another waiting game with my body, so I have to go for scans once a year now. My first annual one will be coming up soon. It sounds like a really depressing story but if I hadn't finally plucked up the courage to really question but health I could have put my body in the most unsafe position of all - having cancer and not knowing about it.

Dangers on the street, in your love life and health wise. I think I've just about covered everything except for the obvious chip pan fires and using an umbrella when it's lightning, but one thing I will finally cover is fights. At a young age, especially when there's alcohol and drugs involved, as their was in the scene I set at the start, it can be very easy to find yourself in a situation where it seems people want to answer their problems with agression and their fists.

I'm not going to touch on bullying, because I'm planning on doing that for another review, although I have been in fights in my life and close approaching fights can creep up even at this point in my life. The key is expecting them and it's never really a good idea to get in them, especially when it involves people who do it for fun. I was beaten up once by a bunch of people I had never seen before in my life, they were drunk - I was drunk, I think that took the pain off a bit. I wasn't upset by it at all, shocked and perhaps a little angry - yes, but it's something of an experience. It's like those of you who have watched Green Street will know the line Elijah says about once you've been hit you realise you're not made of glass, and whilst I don't want my life filled with hooliganism, he raises a good point.

Fighting can be seen as cool though and can work in the appearance you are forming of your 'rep' just as much, if not more, like the way you do your hair. I've been in other fights as well but it's not the answer. We're getting drive-by shootings and knives on the streets as well now, so it's even more important to be careful and keep yourself safe. I hopefully have offered an alternative view to this keeping safe topic on Ciao, so just as much as you stick to the right side of the road when you're cycling, try and follow some tips I've given as closely - although I can't prevent you having fun, because I know I did and I hope there's a lot of fun days left for me ahead!  

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