Throughout our childhood, we are trained for one thing only, to grow up. We are taught things we never chose to learn, and the justification is always the same That is how you grow up. At every step, someone tries to shape us into a better version of ourselves. But in that endless race to become “better” we often lose something far more precious that is our innocence, our authenticity, and our uniqueness.
And somewhere along the way, growing up stopped being just a process of becoming someone. It quietly became a process of losing the small things that we miss today. Have you ever realized how different rain feels in adulthood? Earlier, we wanted to get drenched in the rain and play in puddles all the time. Now, we curse the clouds if we get even a little wet.
We used to make paper boats and compete with our friends to see whose boat would travel the farthest. Now, those same sheets of paper still wait for us, but the irony is that most of us have even forgotten how to make paper boats anymore.
We used to look up at the clouds while dancing and laughing in the rain, praying that it would never stop. Now, when we look at those same dark clouds, they remind us only of our worries and sad memories. The rain is the same. The clouds are the same. So how did we change so much in this process of so-called growing up?
Have you ever felt that strange feeling of returning to your old house the same house you lived in during your childhood? You look at the rooms you once lived in and somehow, they seem smaller. You wonder how you ever managed to live in them. These small rooms were once big enough to run, play, laugh, and lose track of time.
The house is the same. The bricks are the same. The walls are the same. But the feeling has changed. That happiness we once found so effortlessly seems to have disappeared somewhere along the way. Maybe it wasn’t the house that changed. Maybe it was us. Maybe that happiness got lost somewhere in the process of this so-called growing up.
Somewhere along the way, we left behind more than just our childhood habits. We stopped making friends as easily as we once did, stopped laughing without a reason, and stopped finding joy in the smallest things. The games we couldn’t wait to play were replaced by endless responsibilities, and the people we once believed we’d never lose slowly became strangers. Maybe this is what growing up really is, slowly forgetting the little things that once made life feel so alive.
