As I sit in a Chick-fil-A with my mom at lunch time on a Friday, I look at the little girl running around barefooted in the indoor playground and I turn to my mom and ask, “Did I ever go in those playgrounds?” She laughs and shakes her head as she finishes her fries and I can see the nostalgia in her eyes.

Growing up is dynamic concept. We tend to change our views on growing up as the growing up happens. When we’re little and the real world hasn’t had its chance to show us the ugliness and the ruthlessness its capable of, we tend to entertain the idea of growing up, and for many of us it was something we looked forward to doing. I’m in the stage where growing up has become too real of a concept. It’s like I’m stuck in a revolving door and every time I try to get out at the right moment, it takes me for another round.

Many of us are naturally positive people and when we envision our futures, we fail to include obstacles and we fail to think of what could go wrong. Many of us focus on the positive and that’s what drives us to study, work and overall seek to progress in our lives. When reality hits, it hits you hard like a truck and at times, it’ll hit you when you least expect it. Though I cannot offer you much advice if you’re stuck in the same revolving door as me, I can offer you my perspective and how I have handled growing up this far. Time isn’t stopping. You may have some moments where you feel as if the world is crashing down on you and it may feel as if time has stopped indefinitely. Although this is natural to feel, it’s not true. Time is always coming and it isn’t stopping anytime soon. No matter the rut you’re in, no matter the mountain you’re scaling, time will continue to pass. I keep this in mind because it helps me both relieve my anxiety about “grown-up problems” and it helps me stay on my feet and not let precious time fly by as I sit idly.

As a 20-year-old, I wish I could tell my high school self that although the real world is essentially terrifying and I still don’t know what a mortgage is, things sort themselves out. As scary as the real world is and as scary as it is having everything up in the air instead of concrete and set in stone, this leaves room for virtually anything and how exciting is it to think that maybe 4 years or even 4 months from right now you may be hiking a glacier in Patagonia? How exciting is it to think that 20 years down the road you’ll be able to look back and think “wow my 20-year-old self had nothing to worry about.”