Growing up

Sometimes you find yourself wondering why you always find things you don't like about yourself, aspects of your own character you would like to change or improve.

You ask yourself why there are friends who are always there, no matter how far away they are, and other people you consider to be your friends, who keep disappearing.

You wish you could make people around you happy, even though you know that all your efforts won't be enough.

You disapprove of teenagers who cannot write one cohesive and coherent paragraph and start swearing at smartphones and the like. And you remind yourself you were once their age too (true, but you were much better at writing than they are :)

You do not understand people who like gossip and you remember why you decided to leave your hometown at the age of 16.

You fail to understand people who keep making last-minute requests.

You shiver when you think think about this summer and the usual invasion of grasshoppers.

You then look at what you have just written and come to the conclusion that it is neither coherent nor cohesive. The 16-year-old me could write something much more interesting. Back then I was shy and insecure and yet I was determined to go my own way, follow my gut feeling and my passions. I was often scared I wouldn't make it, worried what people would think of me. Maybe I still am. In fact, I probably always will be. I'll always ask myself questions and fail to give myself a convincing answer. One thinks that being a grownup means knowing everything. False. All I know now is that, as long as you look forward, you keep improving and shaping a better version of yourself every day.

And if you really need a definite answer but cannot find one, let me give you a hint: pat yourself on the back and go for STROOPWAFELS! :)