Growing Pains

It took a year

To learn more than I could have in the other sixteen. 

It took a year

For me to accept that you can outgrow people

As you outgrow clothing:

You change

And you will not ever be quite the same

As you were before. 

Yes, people are very much like clothes

(In the simplest 

of terms), as there are those

Who are ill-suited for you, 

Who will change the way you see yourself

For the worse, and  

Convince you that you will never be

As quite as good as you think.

Then there are those who 

Never fail to compliment, 

Your go-to self-reassurance

That will never fail you. 

By learning that it is okay to outgrow people, 

As long as you are growing for the better, 

I have learned an easier way to say goodbye. 

I have learned a way to accept

Time as it changes us all, 

And a way to learn that I am not 

Disfigured, that my dysmorphia

Was only in my head. 

It was not me that is the problem, 

And it was not you, 

But our compatibility

As we grew.