Dear Kids who don’t want to grow up,
Growing up sucks, big time. But time has no remorse for what you want. You wish you could stay young forever, but this isn’t Twilight, No vampires and no staying one age for ever. I know that you want to turn back to a time where you were carefree and did things that made you happy. Growing up can be pretty scary, you never know what may happen. You don’t know what the future holds. Who you can fall in love with, what if they’re bad, or too good? What if I grow up to be the bad person? I can’t make any mistakes, I have a time constraint. Live life to the fullest, but don’t die. Being a teenager forever would be the ultimate goal. Not worrying about paying bills. Or having to plan for yourself what you are going to do. Sometimes you wish for freedom, but then you also don’t want to have a lot of responsibilities. Going throughout your day, waiting for a nice meal when you get home. Getting your bed made and having your room clean, that is such an amazing feeling. Knowing that you can do whatever you want as long as you are home by midnight. Running around with your friends looking for mischief. Living life like the trends on Tumblr. Breathing in the fumes of the decaying world, and not caring that you died because you think you lived life to the fullest. Looking at the stars wishing that every night something amazing would happen to you and change your life. Wishing that your crush admitted that they liked you, and having a feeling of accomplishment. Being an adult means you can’t mess up, because you have responsibilities. Just remember, you can adapt to anything, you’ve done so before. From elementary to junior high, from junior high to high school. You’ve adapted to these changes, and you’re still not dead. Don’t be scared of change, you can survive many changes.
As the sun sets on yet another beautiful day, your hair grows longer, you grow taller, your features change along with the constellations up in the heavens. Running through the fields filled with flowers as the time goes by, everyday more and more flowers filling the field. By the time you’re 15 the field you’re running in is a small plot. By the time you’re 30 the field is twice as long. Now you’re 45, and it’s a large field. When you’re 76, and you can no longer run, you can look back and look at how your life has been filled with tiny surprises as beautiful as flowers. Each flower representing the things that have impacted you throughout your lifetime.
Growing up won’t be the ideal thing to do at the moment. But each year there is something to discover about yourself. You can’t say you have lived life at 15 because there is nothing that you can say was hard for you. School, friends, that era ends sooner or later. Continuing with live can be hard at times, but there are things that make you happy that make living worth it. Growing up and doing things that bring you nostalgia is the best feeling in the world.
Growing out of your tiny shoes into some bigger shoes, and even bigger shoes. Your clothes change along with your shoes. Entering a different phase each year with some big changes. Who would’ve thought you would go through that phase. No one really judges because everyone is going through almost the same phase as you.
Maybe leaving your family and going to live somewhere else for school may be scary. It is almost like a cliche movie, young student moves to the big city and is scared for what might happen. But like all cliche movies, the student learns to live their life to the max and still graduate. Everyone can groan and talk about how cliche movies are annoying and unrealistic, but there must be some truth behind it.
There are many things to take into consideration when thinking about your future. Who you date is one. Then what type of job you’ll have. Or where you’ll live. Some kids have their whole future planned out. Others go with the rhythm of life and choose to do as they please. Both types of people are great because they aren’t scared of what the future holds. If you have the right mentality to succeed in life then you are set to go. Changes happen every second of the day, small things change and big things. Growing up changes. The way your parents grew up isn’t the same way you are growing up.
Letting go of the past also helps you grow up. Keeping the past locked up is not good in any way because you are keeping it alive. The past needs to drift along with the wind so you can start off with a breath of fresh new air. Each sunrise and sunset is a new beginning. Take each day and learn something from your day. You have to be able to learn from your mistakes because if not you’ll be stuck in a cycle where you may never escape because you keep doing the same mistakes.
Anxiety can come and take over your body, that’s ok, just don’t let it control you. When your heart starts racing because you don’t want to grow up, remember that everything will be ok at the end.
Very much like birthdays each year there will be a new surprise. Whether it is finding out something about yourself, or realizing who your truest friends are. That is part of life.
Life so far in my sixteen years of living have been had the most random occurrences. I never thought when I was younger my life would be this way at any moment. I don’t hate what has happened so far. I think I could definitely learn from my experiences. I may have not followed my plan of my future, but I am living my life to the fullest. So crying on my 16th birthday now seems pretty dumb because life continues, and a lot of surprises have happened is a short period of time that I can’t process it still.
Growing up isn’t as bad as you may think it could be. Just go with the flow, and you’ll be okay. :-)
Sincerely, Karina Orellana
