The Messy Years In Between

Everything makes sense. The whimsical childhood spent without a care in the world. The adulthood spent figuring out the sudden weight of responsibilities on your shoulders. But what about the in-between parts of life? What about the messy teenage years where nothing seems to make sense? Where you need to be independent yet somehow are expected to fit in at the same time. Where you feelings and dreams are considered too much, your effort considered too less. Where every word hits harder than it used to, like it was meant for you. Where every moment spent trying harder only made it more stressful. We need to talk about it more. Because before you spank them for a low grade or outburst, maybe it's worth considering that this is their first time being a teen, navigating a life that's sometimes heavy, and being handed a world that feels like theirs to fix when it wasn't particularly them who made the cracks.