I often used to think that growing up was exciting. There was an urge in my heart to become an adult, cool and independent. But now I realise that appearances can be deceiving. You become a completely different person. Maybe this change isn’t visible to others, but it is deeply felt within yourself. From freedom to compromises, from dreams to ‘What will society say?’, from ignorance to understanding everything around you and from certainty to the fear of failing.
Nadiya Tasneem
Growing up might feel like a normal process, but somewhere along this journey comes a point where life begins to show its other side. Not harsh, but not easy either. This sudden twist doesn’t inform anyone or knock on the door before arriving. It comes as a surprise, a surprise that caught me completely off guard. I’m not an experienced person, no sage, just a child who has been recently welcomed into a new world. A world where you’re neither a child nor an adult. Just someone caught in between, confused about what’s going on.
I often used to think that growing up was exciting. There was an urge in my heart to become an adult, cool and independent. I used to see a different aura in this phase of life called adulthood. But now I realise that appearances can be deceiving. You become a completely different person. Maybe this change isn’t visible to others, but it is deeply felt within yourself. From freedom to compromises, from dreams to “What will society say?”, from ignorance to understanding everything around you and from certainty to the fear of failing. This is adulthood, the part of life where you start understanding everything around you, yet long to be the child who never had to carry the weight of that awareness. You begin to connect the dots, but still wish to be the person who was once detached from the complexities of life, the one you were as a kid. The home you lived in hasn’t changed. The people you grew up with are the same. And the friends you had are still your friends, but you are no longer the same. The unwanted change you discover within yourself, the constant uncertainty of whether you’re truly happy with your life—it’s a vague phase that I believe everyone goes through, yet no one ever warns us about. This is growing up.
Life might feel harsh sometimes, and you get confused, lose confidence, struggle to make decisions and blame yourself. Sometimes, it’s quite difficult to convince yourself that it’s okay, that this is simply a part of life you must go through. But believe me, if you make it through this stage, you are stronger than you think. No one’s life is perfect, and everyone goes through this phase in one way or another. Here, I would love to share one of my favourite quotations by Anaïs Nin: “We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially.”
Therefore, it’s okay to have flaws. Let’s turn this change into our strength rather than our weakness. And always remember the words of Søren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
The writer is a Class 11 student at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Yaripora
na**************@***il.com