16-year-old refuses to lend out $600 chocolate fountain for a wedding she's not invited to: 'Maybe this will make me seem like a brat'

Lending your prized possessions out is always a risk. 

If there's something in your possession that you love so much that you would cry if it were gone, then you should protect it. It's difficult to set boundaries with people, though, and you might end up saying yes to something that you wish you hadn't. This is why it's important to collect yourself in those moments and make sure you're actually agreeing to what you would like to agree to. Your belongings are yours, and you have the right to lend them out or not lend them out as you see fit. Even if you're a teenager. Sure, you might be living under someone else's roof, but you still have a right to protect what's yours. Nobody should pressure you into doing something you're not comfortable with.

But that doesn't stop friends and family members from putting you in situations that you might want to avoid. Social pressure is real, and you want to please the people around you. Other people might make you feel like you owe them something when, in reality, you really don't. That's the kind of pressure one teenager was feeling when she was showing off her chocolate fountain to some family friends. If you own a piece of equipment like a chocolate fountain, you know how finicky they can be. One wrong move and the whole thing is ruined forever. Plus, they don't run cheap. If you have one, you're probably particular about lending it out.