When you’re four, you ask your mom why a dime is smaller than a nickel

One larger than the other, yet only the worth of five pennies

Your mom still buys you matching sets to wear to school

You are full of questions and your imagination runs wild

 

When you’re six, you've finally learned how to ride your bike

You race your brother down the neighborhood street

Only to come home to mom and dad arguing again

To distract yourself you color, draw, and idealize another world

You exert creativity and crave exploration

 

When you’re ten, you slowly get the answers you’ve been searching for

Your understanding of the world and people around you begin to come into full circle

You being to understand the importance of hard work

All while realizing the luxury of having food and shelter

You grow more aware and grateful

 

When you’re thirteen, you meet your best friend

She dims your light

Slowly taking away pieces of yourself you never realized were gone

Until it was too late

Preoccupied with fitting in, you lose yourself until you’ve had enough

You stop giving in, only to commend yourself to a state of isolation

 

When you’re fifteen you join the soccer team

Homework and responsibility suffocate you

Anxiety consumes your days; insomnia, overthinking, racing thoughts

You wish you could go back to simpler times

To days where you’d ride your bike

 

When you’re sixteen you get diagnosed with PTSD

Wishing you could go back to age four

When mom and dad would make your breakfast and your biggest fear was the dark

The world dishes out more and more problems

That you struggle with finding solutions to

 

When you’re 17 you get ready for college

Financial burden, more responsibility

Despite all of the overwhelming obstacles life dishes out, you persevered to see another day

Putting yourself first and learning to say no

Anxiety, stress, and struggle all dwindle down as you focus on your passions
Your coming of age story finally comes to an end