HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO GROW

I am Elena, I am 12 years old and I am going through the pre-adolescent stage.

I’m no longer the little girl who cries if she stays at home alone, but I’m not the adult who can always decide for herself what to do or not to do.

I live in a period of transition, uncertainties, changes and my responsibilities increase.

It is a difficult and particular time of growth, in which I am trying to build my personality and shape my character.

When I look in the mirror, I see that my body is changing and I don’t always accept myself: I am taller, physically formed, I have pimples and I have braces on my teeth.

My ideas change every day, my thoughts become complex, my behaviors are often discordant, my moods constantly change and my emotions overwhelm me.

I go from joy to sadness, from happiness to disappointment in an instant, so my parents support me and help me accept these changes.

From an early age they taught me to be kind and to respect people and rules and now they tell me that I have to be happy and carefree and that I don’t have to think only of sad and negative things, because life is lived only once.

But now, at 12, I see life with different eyes.

Friends often disappoint me, too absorbed in themselves to understand the sensitivity of those around them.

And then the generational clash with the parents I love but who often do not understand me and with whom I am not always able to communicate.

And also addictions to video games, phone, TV, internet which on the one hand help me feel less alone, but on the other hand keep me away from the outside world.

Covid has also negatively affected my growth.

The long lockdown period experienced in a particular moment of my life made me more reserved and relationships with others have become more difficult.

Okay, it doesn’t matter! It will pass…

Anyway, all these experiences, negative and positive, have made me grown and become who I am today and I hope in the future to become a responsible adult and to have more confidence in myself and in my abilities.