It’s OK to feel scared.

I have been scared since I was told I would be off to the “real world” soon.

Many people are scared to make the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Perhaps they could be scared from stories that they have heard about being an adult. The world can be a big, scary place sometimes if you let it.

Maybe they are scared of not being babied by their high school teachers anymore.

It could be because time actually matters. If you are late, you will not just get a tardy or an absence. It could lead to you failing or being fired.

Or, maybe, they are scared of not only having their names on the top of just their homework anymore, but also on their bills. They could be scared because they do not know whether or not they are officially prepared to be an adult.

But that is not why I am scared of growing up.

I like those things. I like the feeling of taking care of myself, of growing into an independent, strong person.

However, there are a few things that I am scared of, like losing the innocence of when I was a child and of not trusting people as easily as I once would of.

I am afraid of losing the ability of seeing everyone as a canvas — a canvas that has their own individual cracks in it that has their own stories to tell about life.

I am scared of not seeing the good in everyone that I come across — no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they act. I am terrified of losing my passion for writing and music because I will not have as much time to put my heart into it as I had in high school.

I am scared to lose the desire to seek new places, to lose the feeling of looking at the lights of a city at night and dreaming of things that I could see myself doing and becoming.

I am frightened that once I grow up I will not put my heart and soul into all the little things anymore. I am scared that life will no longer be a place where I will want to strive to do more and more and more, but a place that will become a chore, or an inconvenience, that I will no longer look at as lesson to learn from.

One day I will view city lights as lights — lights that light up the city and nothing more. Will I lose my senses? Not literally, but figuratively.

I am scared that one morning I will wake up to hear the birds singing their lovely tunes outside but not have the energy in me to smile anymore to take a gulp of air and feel that desire in the pit of my stomach to change the world.

I am afraid that as I grow up I will ignore the feeling of wanting to say “Hi” to everybody that passes me on the street. I am afraid of knowing too much about the world and forgetting that I actually know so little about it.

And this is why I am afraid of growing older.