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Abandon the inherited fear of growing older
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“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” – John Steinbeck, “East of Eden.” From the second you are born to the second you die, you are taught to fear aging. To fear the skin around your mouth wrinkling as you smile, to fear the pigment of your hair…
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Growing up means rediscovering who I am
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Growing up, I was a really good kid. Not just in the listening to my parents or getting good grades kind of way, but in the sense that I was good at being a kid. The spirit and magic of childhood were at the core of my identity, and I leaned into it completely,…
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How to prove to yourself that you are not a failure at seventeen
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“Your teenage years are the best of your life,” is a commonly regurgitated cliche that has infiltrated my perception of adolescence, since my earliest cognisant memory. My thirteenth birthday was a pivotal moment in my upbringing. As I entered the elusive world of being a teenage girl, I felt exhilarated but simultaneously frightened. On…
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Facing adversity growing up queer
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I have faced adversity throughout my whole life, from the first time I cut my hair into “boy style” to now with my hair still short and identifying as an openly gay person. When people would walk into the girls’ bathroom and tell me to leave, my 8-year-old self would say, “I am a…
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I feel my imagination getting weaker
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I look at the journals I used to write endless stories in, untouched. I see the stuffed animals whose personalities I know so well, but haven’t come out in so long. The corner of my room that used to be a stage for my one-woman musicals is now just the corner of my room.…
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On: Growing Up
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“Grandma can’t cook anymore,” decided the family. It started with the fire. The family adores Grandma’s yams: a thick layer of baby food smooth yams topped with a thicker layer of marshmallow. More marshmallow is eaten than yam. The family called the yams sweet potatoes. Four years ago, Grandma forgot the yams in the…