🌿 Growing, Quietly

When I was a child, life felt lighter.
Not because it was perfect, but because I didn’t yet understand how heavy it could become. Days were long, laughter came easily, and worries slept somewhere far away.
Back then, happiness lived in small places.
In dusty feet after playing all afternoon.
In shared snacks, simple games, and stories told without thinking about tomorrow.
Growing up didn’t arrive suddenly.
It came in pieces—when play turned into responsibility, when silence replaced noise, and when I learned that some things cannot be rushed. Childhood slowly folded itself into memory.
As a child, I believed adults had all the answers.
Now I know they were once children too, still learning, still hoping, still carrying parts of who they used to be.
Life teaches us early, if we pay attention:
Joy is simple.
Time is gentle until we hurry it.
And growing is not about leaving childhood behind, but understanding it.
Even now, that child still lives quietly inside me—
reminding me to pause, to feel, and to remember…