Everyone has heard the term “Peter Pan Syndrome.” It’s typically tossed around to describe irresponsible men who run around doing dumb things, make dumb choices and refuse to grow up. I’ve never liked this term for multiple reasons. One being that Peter Pan is a horrible person and absolutely nothing to glorify or aspire to, and number two being that I never really got the whole “I don’t want to grow up” thing. Don’t get me wrong; I understand that change is terrifying, and the past is comforting, but I don’t get wanting to literally stay a child. Growing up has always seemed inevitable to me. Instead, I always experienced something I call Wendy Darling Syndrome.

Wendy Darling, as you may know, is the main character of “Peter Pan.” It is her coming of age story, all about how she goes from child to mother and how she accepts that growing up is a fact of life. Wendy struggles with growing up the entire story — she’s caught between changing and staying the same, on the precipice of her entire world expanding and isn’t quite sure what to do. She wavers. She runs. She’s terrified of her life changing, but at the same time, she’s thrilled. She’s indecisive, excited and scared beyond belief. She hides from her problems at first, but eventually makes a decision.

If “Peter Pan Syndrome is refusing to grow up, then Wendy Darling Syndrome is knowing you have to make a change but needing time first. It’s constant indecision out of fear. It’s the inability to decide, but possessing the knowledge that you have to make a choice.

That’s always been me. I avoid problems like a pro. I don’t manage stress because I don’t acknowledge stress. I don’t deal with change; I run until it’s over. Now that I’m graduating college in a few weeks, I find that Wendy Darling Syndrome has caught me worse than ever. I’m in limbo, caught between the comfort of college and the unease of the unknown. I have no job prospects, no skills and no plans. I have a lot of debt, though. Frankly, I’m scared.

I want to run away.

I don’t want to be a kid again. I don’t want to be stuck living the same years over and over. It’s not Peter Pan Syndrome. I’m not an aging male celebrity desperately trying to fight the clock. I’m a young girl who doesn’t know what to do and is afraid of change. I’m Wendy Darling standing in my bedroom, being told I must grow up, but I’m unsure how. I drown in nostalgia while I simultaneously dream of a future I can never grasp. I’m perpetually caught in between.

Important choices have to be made, and I will make them eventually. But not now. I have to run first. I have to ignore them until I just can’t stand it and I have to decide. Growing up is hard, and it’s unfair, and it’s just plain stupid. Being an adult is stupid, but it still happens. You can’t stop time. You can’t be young forever, no matter how many beers you drink or how many girls you screw. It’s OK to hesitate. It’s OK to be unsure. It’s OK to take the time to figure out what you’re doing.

So here’s to the Wendy Darlings of the world. Here’s to the people caught between a rock and hard place. Here’s to the people who have no idea what they’re doing right now. It’s OK. We’re all going to be OK — it’s just going to take a little while. We’ll stumble, we’ll make enemies and we’ll try every wrong solution before we find the right one. But we’ll make it. We know we have to grow up, but we just need some time.