You take a deep breath as you walk through the door. It's the morning of your very first day.

Excitement and anticipation fill your lungs as you sit down on a random chair beside a stranger that you’d soon call your best friend.

So many hopes and dreams of what could and would come your way, then the 1 hour Calculus class — that you found interesting at first but slowly come to hate — starts.

You fall asleep at your desk, and who would’ve known, that when you open your eyes, suddenly you’re surrounded by people who’ve been there for you throughout the torturing exams saying, “I’ll see you soon” instead of goodbye — not knowing that for many of you, that would’ve been the last time you crossed paths. 

The isolation, both physically and mentally however, led you to believe that people’s opinions were merely their opinions, not yours. Then, you make a conscious choice, an effort to stop denying yourself the truth.

You packed up your bags and chose the road with a sign pointing towards ‘putting yourself first’. I can understand that looking back you’d feel that you’re wounded, a survivor struggling to find faith, a stranded sailor squirming to stay above water.

The waves are vicious, the storm is cynical. You should never have to fight to be your own person, no one should have to fight to be themselves, and I’m sorry the world made it that way. 

It’s a rocky road, a hike that has no destination to it. If you’ve made it this far, I’m sure you’re exhausted of having to ‘grow up’ — having to face an unknown future not knowing whether or not Mother Nature can keep up with it.

Growing up doesn’t mean you’ve to stop talking to your inner child. It means knowing how to be the person your inner child wanted to be.

As much as I’m speaking in vague metaphors, how the journey plays out is up to you and the path taken. It’s not a linear process, and it’ll never be. But even the constant bright blue sky can turn at sunset into the purple and coral pink sky that brings you salvation.