The Definition of Growing Up

 When I was little, I had a friend who used to play a game that most people are quite familiar with. The game was called "pretend." We used to stand outside in a grassy area and pretend we were vampire sisters with magic abilities. Looking back, I don't laugh at myself for being naïve or childish. I admire the days where my arms flung behind me when I ran; my cheeks flushed pink and hair whipping against my lashes. The days when I could close my eyes and the world behind would just disappear into the mist. I could become a part of any world I decided to. "It can't happen" did not exist in my vocabulary. Sounds completely and utterly cheesy to a point where I can't even believe I actually wrote that . . . ew, I know. I'm sorry you had to read that. But then again, "cheesy" didn't exist in my world either back then. I don't even think I knew what it was to be "cheesy." As I grew older, I found my imagination slipping away from me. It was as if I was falling into a world where pretend no longer belonged. After completing primary education, creative opportunities in school began to grow slimmer with each year. Now, I'm not saying school is the main cause for loss of imagination, but around the time you enter middle or high school, people expect you to, well, grow up. But people need to understand that growing up isn't about ditching the things that make you different. Growing up is about learning from every scraped knee, every hurtful word, every single moment you ever had. Growing up is realizing that just because someone isn't every bit as grown up as you, doesn't mean you have the right to call them out for it. Growing up is getting educated enough to not point out others' faults and instead taking a step back and acknowledging your own flaws. Growing up isn't packaged with grace and beauty and coordination. For most people, it includes that awkward transition when you are no longer a child, but not a young adult either. Growing up is finding joy and then having it snatched from under you, right when your least expecting it.      Growing up doesn't really exist – because you can't really every completely grow up. Everyone has a childish side, whether or not they choose to show people. So don't tell people to grow up. Telling someone to do this only exemplifies the fact that you haven't grasped that your definition of "mature" and "grown-up" is very different from others.