Remember the 8th grade yearbook? I remember going around trying to get people to sign mine. I was nervous. I wanted them to sign something cool and original. What invariably happened was the guys would write something like, “Dude, what’s it feel like having someone write in your crack?” The girls would write something like, “You are sweet (or cute or fun).” They would also write the devastating, “You have a great personality.” In my 8th grade yearbook someone wrote, “You are great, don’t ever change.” I didn’t really think about it in 8th grade, but I have since then.
What if I never changed? What if I was just the same as I was in 8th grade? I would be running around with a 14 year old mentality. My maturity level would be the same. I would be self-centered, immature and lacking any kind of life experience to draw from. If I were stuck with a 14 year old mentality, I would not be able to function in a grown up world. If I never changed I would feel insecure around powerful people. I would struggle for acceptance thinking everyone around me was aware of my flaws and wouldn’t accept me because of them. I would think less of myself because of my flaws. I also would be intensely private (at least I was when I was 14).
I like who I have become since the 8th grade. The boy of my youth has slipped away with the passage of time leaving a man in its stead.
