Adulthood or Reality?

There are no answers that can truly define what life is supposed to entail. There is no right way, no wrong way, and there is no guide laying it out for us. Young people are stuck in a strange haze between reality and childhood. Where is the door to enter into one world and leave another? Is there a door, a secret password, or maybe even a knock? I think the answer is.. It just happens, unnoticed, and a change quietly happens. A slight shift in the air, a quiet knock, and within moments you’re no longer a child. An unnerving feeling of bareness settles in the air, and then you are an adult.

There is a strangeness of moving between worlds. Comfort is stripped away as you step over the threshold. Freedom and anticipation, that once seemed so intangible, now gleam at your fingertips. There is so much more to discover, to accomplish, to feel. But there is nothing quite like your childhood. Make a point to relish in your young years, soak up every moment, every memory. Never close the door to your childhood, simply step through it into adulthood. There are small glimmers of our childhood selves that find us from time to time. We cross the threshold and soon we are our younger selves. These moments are where we find imagination, acceptance, and our true selves. After all, childhood is where we learn to love.

Reality is terrifying. What do I want to do with my life? Where am I going? Is this really all there is? But these questions have no answers, not now nor ever. I think the best answer is to live for yourself and for those you love. Become the best person you can be, love yourself and those you could never lose, and the answers will be there. You write your own answers, almost like a choose your own ending book. Reality is not our lives, it is simply a word used to describe what we seem to think is life.

Adulthood is not a change that occurs overnight, nor a noticeable change. Progressively we grow and shift into the people we will be, for today. We are not the same person we were yesterday or will be tomorrow. We are ever-changing and so is our reality. There are no answers, you are not stuck, and you don’t have to know where you’re going. Just go.

Mary Hammond

About Mary Hammond

I am a young and aspiring writer living on the quiet coast of Maine. As a high school student I balance a full schedule, while still finding time to write. I recently received a Maine Scholastic Gold Key Award from the University of Southern Maine. Writing has become a lifelong passion of mine, as a new adventure unfolds each time I begin.