On growing up

The trigger was paneer. As usual, my dad made a small pre-workout snack for me. Today it was paneer chilly. I was catching up on some reading and eating it when he tapped my hand and said “ There are really spicy chillies in there. I’ve warned you. Don’t say I didn’t when you bite into one of them. “

My response was that I could handle the spice in case I did bite into one. A few years ago, when I was in my teens, my response would’ve been that I’m being careful. Today, I no longer bother to lie to myself or those around me about possible errors. That’s the truth. I *am* multi tasking and I may very well end up biting into something spicy. It’s just that, today, I know that I can handle it.

Growing up isn’t about being less flawed or making fewer mistakes. It is about knowing one’s limitations and being confident that there exists within oneself potential to deal with the consequences of any action or lack thereof.

You don’t have to grow up, in the literal sense, to learn this, I think. The beautiful thing about life is that if you end up doing something for long enough, you get good at it. Growing up inevitably involves making mistakes. So many of them. We get caught lying. We trust the wrong people. We break hearts. We get our hearts broken. We lose the plot. We hurt those who believe in us. We do all this and more, several times over. Eventually, you learn to take a punch and forge ahead despite it. That, is growing up. Own your flaws. Own your mistakes. Learn from them. Your story would be boring if it only had happy endings. Those bumps and how you dealt with them matter a lot to anyone who’s listening.

Grow up.