I Choose to be young, not because I refuse to grow up, but because I refuse to grow tired of life.

 

Somewhere along the way, life tries to teach us that growing up means letting go of the softness we once had. That maturity is measured by how much weight we carry, how much we’ve endured, how much we’ve learned to expect less from life. We are told to stop dreaming so big, to let go of childish wonder, to trade excitement for caution, and to accept that the world is not as kind as we once believed it to be.

And for a while, I listened.

I let life harden me. I let heartbreak, disappointment, and broken dreams convince me that maybe happiness wasn’t meant to be chased. Maybe it was just something you stumbled upon by accident, and if you weren’t lucky enough, you simply lived without it. I stopped laughing as much. Stopped allowing myself to be silly. Stopped believing that I could just be without justifying it.

But then I realized something, this wasn’t growth. This was exhaustion disguised as adulthood. This was the slow, quiet surrender of someone who had become too tired to believe in life’s beauty.

And I didn’t want that.

So I made a choice. I chose to stay young not in age, but in heart. I chose to find joy in small things. To dance in my room just because I can. To be excited about love, about possibilities, about the unknown, without the fear of looking foolish. I chose to see the world the way I once did not with naivety, but with a belief that even after pain, there is still joy to be found. That even after loss, there is still something worth holding on to.

Choosing to be young doesn’t mean refusing to grow up. It means refusing to let life steal the magic from you. It means deciding that no matter how heavy things get, you will never let the weight of the past make you tired of living.

Because what’s the point of surviving if you forget how to live?

Food for thought: When was the last time you let yourself be truly happy without guilt? Without hesitation? Without fearing that it wouldn’t last? Maybe it’s time to stop waiting for happiness and start choosing it.