Teen Life Stories you should know about Growing Up

No one defies the passage of time

Time lapses. As I am saying this, time is already ticking second by second, like a sand funnel. 27 is not just a number, it is a process of aging and a process of growth; a symbol of maturity and independence. As you are reading this, no matter how old you are, no one can defy the passage of time. But I always wonder, how would I look like and be like when I grow old? When my legs could just twitch weakly or lay immobile on my deathbed before people come and mourn at my funeral or when I no longer could remember people's names and faces. What would life look like by then? Would I still be happy for my own existence? This is fear. Fear of losing what you once had, fear of oblivion, and fear of losing touch from the world. 

I guess this is probably why religion has such power in people. It is because it makes people believe in something, just something that could ignite people's hope to live like a fire match in the dark and to make a difference on Earth. Religion makes people understand one crucial epiphany: their time here on Earth is very limited and transient; therefore, make every second count. Human beings always have to grasp their time while they possibly can in their time on Earth and while things still make meanings to them. Because essentially, just like a sand filter you play at the beach when you were a kid, time just slips away without you noticing. Bygones will always be bygones and you can never go back and rewind to for example, when you first got your little pet, or when you first made a friend in preschool or when you attend your first piano lesson. Time just comes and hits you so quickly that before you know, you are already letting it slip away before you even realize it. It is sad, but it is very true. So, lesson number one, cherish your time.

This brings me to what I want to say about my life. Do not get me wrong, I do not necessarily think I have something more special than what you want to say about your life, but growing up is not an easy thing and this is something I want to share. Growing up requires courage, wit and persistence. And youth, essentially, is the bloom of exuberance, chances and time. When you were young, everything seems to be your first-times and time seems to go slower than expected, whether it is your first time to be at a swimming gala at school or your first time to go on a date. But once you grow older in life, you will realize that no, no one ever escapes the poor passing of time and no one could ever compete with time. 

But having said that, growing up always, always teaches you certain things about life. Sometimes, it gives you courage to move on. Sometimes, it gives you wit to make the suitable decisions in life, be they right or wrong. And sometimes, it teaches you to persist in whatever you are doing in life; that you should not give up for what you believe in, or that you should grit your teeth and persist without hesitation through life's turmoil and obstacles. Growing up is what people call the pain in the ass because essentially, growing up makes you realize how life throws you with unexpected and difficult situations that sometimes you have no clue of how to solve them. 

Maybe one day you will know how to solve them, or maybe not. But growing up is like a double-edged sword. It has its good side and also its bad sides, and the more you are confident about growing up, the more you could leverage on that to realize your potentials. So lesson number two about growing up, roll with it and learn to embrace your obstacles. You will eventually learn how to deal with your problems in life and whether they will be solved or not, they will always pass.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I used to be a very timid child. I was afraid to speak up in class and I followed what others did. I was afraid of being judged or criticized. I still remembered how timid I was, standing in line with the other classmates at the morning assembly in the outdoor playground. We stood two by two, which formed two symmetrical vertical lines for each class of primary school kids. I recalled that when the principal was talking, how the whole playground full of teachers and children was filled with solemnity and sternness and how the whole place was so quiet that I could almost hear birds pecking with their beaks on bread crumbs children left on the ground during recess. 

The teachers, though kind, were very strict on the students, which explains a bit more about my background. I studied at a prestigious girl's primary school where gossips would fly around like airplanes in indefinite circles and I remembered how gossips started to emerge once girls were capable of making comments about people, be they positive or not. Most of them were smart kids coming from affluent backgrounds, so you could start to see why this is the case.