Growing up is different than what everyone thinks it is. As soon as I turned five, all I wanted to do was grow up. We all know how it was so I don't have to go in great detail. But now that I'm thirteen...I know that growing up sucks. You may be thinking that I'm really young and I am but I know more than you may think. Lately I have been noticing other peoples' reactions to growing up. Like my friends, most of them act totally immature and crazy. But I don't think they're trying to. I think that that's their way of reacting (by pretending that they aren't growing up.) Other people slip into depression. That one is more common. We (as teens) have a lot of pressure put onto us. We go through things that no one knows about. Things that no one teaches us about. Things that we don't know how to react to so we become overwhelmed and stressed and depressed. It just happens. We aren't taught in school how to handle these things. For example, when I was young, I used to make fun of the thought that some people cut themselves. I didn't understand that people could be literally unhappy all of the time. But now that I have experienced these things, I know exactly why "cutters" cut. And I seriously wish I didn't. But, these things happen. Anyways, I also remember thinking that it was stupid that adults always said to "make the most of my childhood" which to me made absolutely no sense. Being a kid sucked. I had no freedom at all. I couldn't do anything on my own and as a kid, that's all I wanted. But, as soon as fourth grade rolled around, I knew exactly what they meant. That was the year my parents became divorced (it wasn't one of the nice divorces where your parents can still be friends.) It was probably one of the hardest years of my life. And from then on, I was never truly happy, but I was good at pretending. I think that by the time I got to sixth grade, I realized that growing up wasn't what I had thought it was. I had lots of responsibilities and I was stressed out a lot. And on top of all of the normal middle school things, I had to worry about my two houses. You won't believe how many times I said "I left it at my dad's house" or "I think it's at my mom's house" and eventually my teachers thought I was lying. But, despite what I want, I have to grow up. I have to face life. And I have to tell it who's boss.