By: Karley Bailey

Fourteen. Chronologically, not the beginning of your teenage years, but in the sense of life experience this is where the “fun” part of your adolescence starts. At fourteen you dread your first footsteps into a much larger school: a school that when you look at it, you see your future. Never realizing that when you step into this school you are also stepping into up and coming mistakes, relationships you might regret, and essentially the start of the rest of your life. High school. Adults will tell you over and over again, “Don’t mess up in High School. Your grades do matter. If you mess up you have no other chance to have a career; to make something of yourself.” What a slight majority of adults have forgotten is that when you are young, fourteen, you are thinking about dating, your first kiss. Your first real party. When you are fourteen, you do not know what being naive really means.

At fourteen your perception of the world is different. You never stop to think the real reason behind why a boy has stopped talking to you; or why that one shy girl from Middle School has suddenly started accentuating her curves with tight clothing or has started wearing heavy kohl eyeliner. At fourteen you still have hope in the fairytale high school sweetheart cliche. That boy in spanish class? At the moment you think he is the love of your life. You still have hope after five months of him ignoring you, that he’ll run up to you and abruptly confess his love. At fourteen, you start discovering your personality. Your taste in music. The people you don’t and do need in your life the next four years.

At fourteen you dress like someone you are not,  only because you want people to look at you, admire you, tell you that you are looking hot today. Your big brother will tell you, “Be careful, there are bad people in high school.” At that moment you will roll your eyes and laugh; eventually, you meet the bad people your brother had warned you about. The people who will treat you no where near the way you deserve. The people that you start loving with your whole heart, and all they can do is break it. What your big brother doesn’t tell you about is the amazing people you’ll meet in high school. The older kids who let you into their group and don’t judge you the way you are used to being by your fellow peers. The teachers that become your second parents, your older siblings. These are the people that show you what naivety is. How beautiful a person you really are, compared to the person society wants you to be.

At sixteen, maybe you have already experienced your first love, your first kiss, your first high school party. Maybe those experiences were not the best; but what they did do, is shape who you are. The boy in spanish class became your first love. He broke your heart, or maybe you broke his, but you are thankful for that. Without him you would not have realized what kind of people you want in your life. The girl with the tight clothing and heavy eyeliner, comes to school in sweats and a huge smile on her face. Your big brother tells you, “I think you’ve really matured. I trust you.” You come to see that you are growing more and more out of your adolescence every day, and closer to your adulthood. You dress in your favorite band tees and leggings, just because that is who you are. Your older group of friends will make you feel far more loved than any of your followers on social media. You can finally confide in people who you love, and they love you.

Finally you will feel like you belong. You will no longer be a daisy in a field of roses. You will be a daisy in your own garden. You are growing in your own divine essence more everyday. Everyday more beautiful. You are aware of who you are and where you belong.