Growing up, the word ‘growing’ in particular has scared me since I was little.
Often, when you are a kid, you are excited to grow up, believing you will get to do whatever you want, whenever you want. Adults make growing up sound simple. They say childhood is easy. They say you will miss it one day. But for me, growing up always felt frightening.
I feared forgetting the memories, the moments, and the people around me. I feared losing the little things that once felt permanent. The laughter in classrooms, the late-night talks with friends, the feeling of being young enough to dream without limits. Time moving forward scared me because it meant things would change, and change never felt easy to me.
Adults often say kids have it easy. But I did not, and I bet many of you did not either.
While others around me could read and write naturally, I struggled to understand it for years. What seemed simple to others often felt impossible to me. Math problems looked like puzzles I could never solve. Science classes made me nervous because learning more sometimes made the world feel bigger and more overwhelming. I felt small, like a grain of salt floating in an endless galaxy.
Growing up while struggling can make you feel alone. It can make you feel blind, like you are falling, while everyone else somehow knows where they are going. Any kid would fear growing up if life already felt difficult while they were still young.
To some people, connection comes easily. For others, connection feels trapped inside their mind with no clear way to express it. It was never that I could not connect with people. I simply did not know how to explain the way I felt.
As I grew older, though, I slowly realized something important: growing up is not fear. Growing up is an opportunity.
It is the opportunity to observe, learn, listen, and slowly understand yourself. It is the opportunity to discover what makes you different and realize that being different is not a weakness. Sometimes the things that make us struggle are the same things that help us create, imagine, and care more deeply than others.
As I write this today as a senior, I miss the younger version of myself, but I love the older version more. The younger me was scared, confused, and uncertain. The older me still struggles sometimes, but now I understand that struggling does not mean failing. It means growing.
Time is important. Time is now.
You may struggle, but that does not mean you should stop doing what you love. Find what works for you. Grow in your own way, not the way others expect you to. Everyone moves at different speeds. Some people bloom early. Others take more time. But flowers still bloom no matter when the season arrives.
Touch the stars because every day is a miracle. Every day you wake up is another chance to become someone stronger than you were yesterday.
Sometimes we spend so much time focusing on fear and other people’s opinions that we forget ourselves. That kind of pressure hurts people. That is why balance matters. Balance helps us grow. Balance helps us understand ourselves. Balance helps us continue moving forward even when life feels heavy.
Films, stories, music, and art speak to people who learn differently. They tell stories between the lines. Sometimes we cannot fully understand those meanings until we grow older and reflect on our past experiences. Art teaches us that there are many ways to see the world, and none of them are wrong.
One thing I have learned as I have grown up is that nobody truly has everything figured out. Even adults are still learning. Everyone is trying to understand life while carrying their own fears, memories, and dreams. Realizing that made me feel less alone.
I write this final article not to tell you to stop growing up or to fear becoming older. I write this to remind you that even when one chapter ends, another chapter begins. Life keeps moving, and so do we.
The only way to let your pages flow and your words grow is by staying close to the people you know while also being open to the people you have not met yet. Some people will walk into your life and completely change the way you see the world. Others will leave lessons behind that stay with you forever.
You will hit rocks in the road. You will fall over. You will doubt yourself. But without challenges, there is no growth. Without darkness, there is no light. Without bad, there is no good.
The struggles we survive shape the people we become.
So all we can do is continue growing in the ways we know and in the ways we are still learning to find.
Thank you for taking the time to read my words. Thank you for growing alongside me, even if we never fully realized we were doing it together.
Grow big. Grow strong. Grow for your future, but also for the person you once were.
And no matter how afraid you may feel of change, never stop becoming who you are meant to be.
Persistent.
