Growing up too fast? Too slow? Lemme explain...

Post Reply New Topic

I'm currently 15, but I currently have a very bizarre...Dilemma, I guess, going on right now. Lately, I've been feeling like I've "grown up too fast", and that I'm not ready for the "adult", or even "teenage" world. I feel as though everything's just moving too fast, and that I don't have enough time to grow up and be prepared. It doesn't help that my maturity level shifts randomly; one minute, I'm cold and logical, yet the next, I act childish and nervous.

I now all of you are gonna say, "Don't worry, Marilyn, by the time you're 18, you'll have changed and grew up," and blah blah blah. I know that! But it's hard to shake that feeling that, in a few years, I'm going to be an adult, and the world doesn't care if I'm ready or not.

What do I do?

What do you do? Brace yourself because things are going to get much worse.

You probably won't have grown up by the time you are 18, or 25, or really any particular age.
It's not a binary choice: you aren't going to simply switch over one day from "Not grown up" to "Grown up," so you needn't worry that it hasn't happened yet. Maturing is a gradual process that, ideally, goes on through your whole life.

Try to take this a little bit at a time. Today you should be facing being 15, and when you're comfortable with that, possibly 16. If you rise to meet the challenges that come your way, you will mature. Now is the time to think about making your own decisions and choices as much as possible, the time to learn about the basics of living independently, and the time to explore what you want your future to look like.

I use to have similar feelings. In the back of my mind I would sometimes think that I would never be able to learn certain skills that would help me to become more independent. When I focused on learning to do one thing at a time and planned ahead helped me because it wasn't as overwhelming. Try not to let these feelings discourage you.