Growing Pains

We as kids learn everything we need from 4 main sources

Our Parents

Our Teachers

Our Friends

And now, media

For me, life was something that I gradually learned to navigate

First how to tie my shoes, thanks mom

Then how to walk to the bus stop alone, again, thanks mom

Eventually how to get to and from home alone without the help of my mother, thanks Dayton

It took time for me to figure out the best way to study for a test, thanks Quizlet

Get my homework done, thanks Mrs. Henning

And still have time for friends

As I grew up and entered my young adulthood I was faced with problems that I hadn’t been equipped for before

I hadn’t been taught how to file an application for a job

Or how to deal with drunk drivers

Or how to deal with heartbreak

Loss

Devastation

These things aren’t taught to you through a book and a teacher relaying words

These are things you are forced to learn yourself

But for me, poetry taught me how to grieve

It taught me how to rejoice

It taught me what adrenaline rushing through your veins feel like when you're performing a poem you love in front of a crowded and overly hot room

It taught me how to love myself

It taught me how to love everyone

It taught me how to grow up