It seems as if lately, all anyone ever talks about are the stresses of life and how they miss being a kid. Yes, childhood was easier in a lot of ways. The only concerns were going to school, getting assignments done on time, and perhaps a few chores at home. Maybe you dealt with family issues, bullying at school for being different in one way or another, or experienced a tragic event that left you scarred for life. You didn’t have much responsibility, but you also didn’t have many choices other than how to play and who to play with during your free time.

That was the case for me, anyways. I lived under my parents rules at home and my teachers rules at school, and I definitely couldn’t drive to go anywhere myself or meet up with my friends to plan a trip. I had no idea about who I truly was, the capabilities of my mind and what a blessing it was to experience all the human emotions. I had no freedom to choose my purpose and go after it, no abilities to be proud of and define myself with, no financial freedom to choose to go wherever I please with whomever I chose. 

Now, as a young adult, I do feel responsibility towards taking care of those I love. I do feel the stresses of the working world both in terms of my job as well as at home. But I love it. I love it because I am not cornered up spending all my time in a classroom or studying from a book. Instead, I am up and out and living my life in all the ways it is meant to be lived. I get to feel the joy of working towards a purpose helping my patients at work, and receiving a hard-earned paycheck with which to pay for the things I find worth paying for in life, such as education, love, travel, music, and basic necessities. I am responsible for who I am, inside and out, and have the greatest gift that life has to offer: total freedom. Freedom to choose my faith, to take charge of my health, to achieve my dreams, to share my life with whomever I choose, to essentially go anywhere and do anything. 

I know life may not always be like this. Especially once I am older and responsible for a family of my own, when their wants and desires will come before mine and I may not get the chance to live life the way I am living it now. But even that is a choice. It is my choice to one day, get married and have children and love them all enough to put them before myself, to give them happiness and love and knowledge and resources to be able to do the same when they are older. The older I get, the more I know and grow and experience life, the happier I am- not the carefree happiness of a child, but a true, fulfilling happiness in my soul. Being a kid was easier with less worries and responsibilities and I loved it, but being an adult is like someone has turned on the light and handed me the car keys and set me free.