The day I become the person I needed to be

She was sitting alsime at the end of the corridor. I noticed her because she was looking and trying hard not to be noticed.

Her bag was beside her. Her hands folded tightly in her lap. Every few seconds she looked at her phone and then quickly looked away. I know that expression.

It was the expression of someone waiting for something that they were afraid to hear. I almost walked past her. Then she looked up. Can I ask you something? I sat down beside her.

She began speaking slowly. She didn't k ow whether she was good enough. She was afraid of the future. Everyone around her seemed to be moving forward while she felt struck in the same place.

She was afraid of making the wromg decision. Afraid of disappointing her family. Afraid that she would work hard and still not being able to become the person she wanted to be. I listened.

And with every sentence I recognised something familiar. Not her exact situation. But the fear. I had felt it too.

I remembered being you get and beleiving that everyone else had somehow received instructions for life that I have missed. I remembered looking at other people's achievements and feeling as though my own life wa smoving too slowly. I remembered wanting someone to tell that being confused did not mean that I was failing.

So I simply told her the things that I wanted to hear that day. I told her that she did not have to plan her entires life immediately. I told her that she being afraid did notean she was incapable. That other people's progress was not evidence of her failure. That's sometimes the next story was the only thing she needed to figure out.

I told her that there would be days that she will doubt yourself. That there would be days where she felt behind. Bot none of these meme would be the definition of her life. She listened quietly.

Then she smiled.bi was not a huge smile. Just enough to make her look slightly less alone. When I walked waya I kept thinking about the conversation.

I had started it beleiving I had helped someone younger. But perhaps I was speaking to the you get version of me. The strange thing about growing up is that you rarely notice it happening.

You simt wake up one morning and suddenly heal. You simple find yourself giving someone else the advice tou once desperately needed. You just become the person you once needed and choosing to stay when someone else is standing where you once stood.