Growing up is hard

Growing up is hard

April 2, 2024

Growing up is hard:


Growing up is hard.

It’s tough.

It sucks sometimes.

You have to be responsible.

You have to take care of yourself.

You have to find food every day.

You have to find a good job.

You have to show your parents.

You have to get a girlfriend.

You have to get married.

You have to buy a house.

You have to deal with heartbreak.

You have to invest in your future.

You have to do laundry.

You have to keep up with your friends.

You have to save money.

You have to read.

You have to learn.

You have to do a lot.

Being a grown-up sucks sometimes.

Sometimes I imagine what it’s like to be a kid.

To have no responsibility.

To have not a care in the world.

To worry about showing up, learning and having fun.

That was it.

Yet I took it so seriously.

My childhood.

Drilled by my parents.

No relationships.

Study hard.

Do well.

Get into a good university.

Get into medicine.

All drilled into me as a child.

Did I miss my childhood?

Yes and no.

Do I wish I screwed up more?

Yes.

Do I wish I failed more?

Yes.

Do I wish I had more fun?

Yes.

But those things didn’t happen.

Instead I chose to be mature.

To be an adult.

To take care of my siblings.

To be a good role model.

Why couldn’t I just be a bad one?

Why couldn’t I just screw up?

I couldn’t.

Or so I thought.

Now as an adult, I feel like I’m screwing up every day.

Failing from one day to the next.

All those things I mentioned at the beginning, I’m trying every day.

Yet, I still feel like I’m failing.

What does everyone else feel?

Does anyone else have life figured out?

No.

The realization I had as an adult is no one has anything figured out.

We’re all just making it up as we go.

We were given a blueprint in our childhood.

One we didn’t choose.

And chose to follow that.

Some of us made different choices than the ones our parents and environments wanted for us.

Most of us just did what we were told.

Passing through life as if one day it’ll all make sense.

But it doesn’t.

It never does.

One day you’ll wake up in your 50s wondering where did your life go.

So instead, choose to be a kid.

Choose to enjoy.

Choose to have fun.

Don’t take life so seriously.

You don’t have to grow up fully.

You should always have that childlike sense of the world.

The imagination you had as a kid.

Asking why to everything.

Never lose than wonder.

That ability to be wowed by something.

We need more moments like that.

More moments where we can feel like a kid again.

You don’t want to fully grow up.

Growing up is hard.

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Anish Kaushal

Hey there. I'm an Indo-British Canadian doctor turned healthcare venture capitalist. I read, write and obsess over sports in my spare time. Lover of Reggaeton music, podcasts and Oreo Mcflurries.
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Growing up is hard

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Apr 2, 2024
Why growing up sucks, my childhood and being a child

Growing up is hard:


Growing up is hard.

It’s tough.

It sucks sometimes.

You have to be responsible.

You have to take care of yourself.

You have to find food every day.

You have to find a good job.

You have to show your parents.

You have to get a girlfriend.

You have to get married.

You have to buy a house.

You have to deal with heartbreak.

You have to invest in your future.

You have to do laundry.

You have to keep up with your friends.

You have to save money.

You have to read.

You have to learn.

You have to do a lot.

Being a grown-up sucks sometimes.

Sometimes I imagine what it’s like to be a kid.

To have no responsibility.

To have not a care in the world.

To worry about showing up, learning and having fun.

That was it.

Yet I took it so seriously.

My childhood.

Drilled by my parents.

No relationships.

Study hard.

Do well.

Get into a good university.

Get into medicine.

All drilled into me as a child.

Did I miss my childhood?

Yes and no.

Do I wish I screwed up more?

Yes.

Do I wish I failed more?

Yes.

Do I wish I had more fun?

Yes.

But those things didn’t happen.

Instead I chose to be mature.

To be an adult.

To take care of my siblings.

To be a good role model.

Why couldn’t I just be a bad one?

Why couldn’t I just screw up?

I couldn’t.

Or so I thought.

Now as an adult, I feel like I’m screwing up every day.

Failing from one day to the next.

All those things I mentioned at the beginning, I’m trying every day.

Yet, I still feel like I’m failing.

What does everyone else feel?

Does anyone else have life figured out?

No.

The realization I had as an adult is no one has anything figured out.

We’re all just making it up as we go.

We were given a blueprint in our childhood.

One we didn’t choose.

And chose to follow that.

Some of us made different choices than the ones our parents and environments wanted for us.

Most of us just did what we were told.

Passing through life as if one day it’ll all make sense.

But it doesn’t.

It never does.

One day you’ll wake up in your 50s wondering where did your life go.

So instead, choose to be a kid.

Choose to enjoy.

Choose to have fun.

Don’t take life so seriously.

You don’t have to grow up fully.

You should always have that childlike sense of the world.

The imagination you had as a kid.

Asking why to everything.

Never lose than wonder.

That ability to be wowed by something.

We need more moments like that.

More moments where we can feel like a kid again.

You don’t want to fully grow up.

Growing up is hard.