Dear eighteen, 

Well, umm hi! To be honest, none of us knew what you would look like. And that’s what you were to us, a delusion. I literally thought that the world would look different once I was 18. And I’m sure most of us did think the same. But here we are, the world just the same and many of us flaunting the #Being18 and ‘Adulting vibes’ thing. We all turned 18 in just a day, but the more I ponder upon it, dear eighteen, you were always something so vast that it wouldn’t be possible to fit you in a span of twenty four hours ever. You make us realize of responsibilities each day. You propel us to stretch our horizons and discover something. But that’s the good part. Eighteen, let me be frank with you. Sometimes we do yearn to become small, with two ponytails, school bags on our shoulders and nothing to worry about, except perhaps homework. Also, there’s this question that occupies a big chunk of my head and it keeps nagging me. Am I mature enough? Looking back at the early teens, I definitely feel that I’ve come a long way. But then the idealistic picture of being 18 pops in the mind and I come to the conclusion that though I’ve changed for the good, there’s still a long way to go. But I’ll say this too. We definitely have learnt a lot. We’ve witnessed transitions in us that make us feel a tiny bit proud. We learnt to make decisions for ourselves, understood the fact that everyone has different choices and experienced what it was to passionately work for a goal. We learnt that there actually existed things like challenges and that they weren’t just a part of motivational poems. Conversations were steered to different, unexplored waters, from assignment submissions to driving license applications. Seemingly nonsense conversations materialized into deep life changing decisions. From seeing people around us change to ranting about some random stuff, from making new friends to realizing how the old ones are true gems and from debating over the uncertainties to concluding big dilemmas, each day, we all grow. We see people around us being happy on fulfilling their dreams. The people who were once studying under the same roof have been dispersed all around the globe, in pursuit of their dreams. And that’s something amazing. It is fascinating to see that we all have grown. There’s no doubt that everyone’s a tangled bundle of threads, trying to be better than they were yesterday. Yes, occasionally stumbling, falling ungracefully, but getting up all the same. Dear eighteen, there’s a plethora of emotions associated with you. But today I’ll tell you- you are beautiful just the way you are. Yes, you make me feel a little lost, but a lot found. Just be the same, always.

Yours very truthfully, 

A young adult