Growing up.

I'm at this juncture where I am supposedly entering the real world. An entire generation is. And it is scary. Exciting, but scary. As soon as I cross this threshold, there no longer is a fixed schedule whenever I wake up. The world is truly my oyster. And I am also accountable for every single thing I do.  I can still spend an entire day stuck to the laptop watching re-runs of 'How I met your mother' but this time, the stakes are higher. I see friends and batch mates moving to different cities and different countries and it makes me wonder. Wonder if people are ever going to be the same again. Maybe not. And I guess that's a good thing. Our responsibilities ceased to be limited to ourselves in a major way. There is a longer thought process involved for every aspect of life. Nowadays, every time I make a major decision, I think of the impact it will have on future events. And I guess that is essential at this stage. 

Not very long ago, when I was a kid, I imagined grown-ups to be these super awesome people with a superman cape around them. Like literally. I believed that only kids are the stupid ones who make all the mistakes. The grown-ups have it all figured out. I would have easily believed if someone told me that God spoke to them every night and told them what to do the next day. Every grown up had a halo around the head in my imagination. At least, the ones I grew up around! As I got older, I saw reality. I saw that grown-ups are actually just older kids. Even they have no clue what life is all about. And they are sometimes quite confusing. People do some pretty stupid things for bizarre reasons. 

At this stage where I claim to be an adult, where I realise that I'm accountable for every single thing I say and do; I want to be the grown-up I always imagined to be. Yes, with the superman cape and the halo on the head. I want to do what is right and stand true to what I believe. I know I might mess up at times, but that is okay. I want to be the kind of girl who is worthy of being my dad's daughter and my dada's granddaughter. I, not only want to set high standards, but also to meet them way past the finishing line. 

Here's hoping that 50 years later, I stand true to every word I just wrote. And more importantly, here's hoping that I am able to answer His questions on the Day of Judgement. 

That's all. 

-Asma Afreen S.A.