THINGS WE ARE HIT WITH WHEN WE GROW UP.

Childhood. The time of our lives that we hold on to till our very last breath. The carefree, happy part of our lives, the one that is the most difficult to let go of. Every tiny little faded memory of it, every cheer, laughter, and happy incident, all safely tucked in our hearts. But once we grow up, we realize life is not the same anymore. It is not all daisies and sunflowers anymore. We realize life is like a rose, a beautiful red rose but thorns growing on it. Most of us will be desperate to get back to our perfect childhood but warriors will embrace the change. And this very act of bravery will define what it is going to be like to live.

Growing up, each one us came across and learned tons of things which we didn’t even know existed.

When you are at loss of words, You cry.                                                    When you just cannot accept the harsh reality,                                        You conveniently deny.                                                                                Truth be told, You just keep adjusting to the discomforts that life offers..

“Pain” that we thought as a child, we only felt when we fell on the ground while running, had surprisingly so many sources other than those happy childhood accidents. We realised pain is not only physical, but it is so much more than that. “It hurts” does not only mean that medicine could cure that. That ache that we feel in our hearts without falling on the ground but ironically feeling the ground engulfing us is not what a child would feel.

 

“Loss”. Remember all those times when you lost your favourite toy, and mom or dad getting you another one just like that or in some cases better.  Well, all those were materialistic things right. Now, remember every “Loss” you witnessed after you grew up. They could not possibly be replaced with anything else. You learnt to overcome your losses because you knew life will never stop not even slow down, not for you, not for anybody else. So you have got to survive.

One of the tasks that dawned upon us when we grew up was “Taking decisions”. The best part of childhood was, there was always somebody to make judgements for you, decide for you, and weigh the pros and cons for you. All you had to do was, look cute and listen. Now when you have grown up, you have to do it yourself and if in any case, somebody does that for you, you get infuriated and take it as a question mark on your liberty, independence and rights. Seems complicated when you realise it. All of us, I am sure, get a little bit worried while making choices. We wonder, “What if it does not work out as planned”, “what if I am making a wrong choice” and blah blah. Do not even try to deny it, I am one hundred per cent sure, we all do that.

Personally, my favourite part of childhood was looking amazed at things I have never seen before. I used to feel so captivated looking at new things without wondering the scientific or general sense-making reason behind its existence. But now, every time we come across something that is unusual to us, instead of feeling amazed, our first reaction always is running our brains to give logical reasoning to it. This happens because as soon as we grow up, we are made to make sense of each and everything around us. To feel like that explorative, admirable child, all we have to do is to forget that anything and everything has a legitimate theory behind it.

Need I remind you of the legendary heartbreaks that adults have to go through, (if you are lucky) not more than once. The expectations that we start picking up from the people around us and all those disappointments that we carry along as we grow older. Things aren’t always supposed to be, how you want them to. But that does not stop us from hoping, expecting and then eventually getting disappointed if they do not turn out accordingly.

“Friendships”.  You realise friendships are not only about eating lunches together or playing together at school, but it is also as complicated as LOVE. Friendships come with expectations and deeper feelings than you realise. You come to know that letting go of a friend hurts more than a romantic breakup. If you are lucky, you find that one person who you can proudly call your best friend and who stays by your side till the end, becomes your partner in crime and a center of all your stories. Eventually, you start calling him/her your family. It is indeed a pleasure to have a true, honest friend in your life.

How it is expected of you to not be trashy or oblivious to facts and how you are supposed to be this responsible person. Age does come with all of this and you are supposed to embrace it.

Reality sucks in so many ways, but it is the reality. Even if I think of my childhood as the most blessed part of my life, growing up has given a substance to my life and I am sure it did that to yours too. Some of you are just reluctant to see it. The moment we decide to get the facts straight and show acceptance to the changes that life was offering us and will be offering throughout is the very moment we would start living. This moment, this very moment of acceptance will define us and we will master the things life wants to teach us while growing up.

You can’t skip chapters, that’s not how life works. You have to read every line, meet every character. You won’t enjoy all of it. Hell, some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read things you don’t want to read, you will have moments when you don’t want the pages to end. But you have to keep going. Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours, don’t miss out.