Growing up is not only a journey of dips, twists and turns, peaks and valleys, but you'll also have mountains to climb. What they don’t tell you about growing up, is that not everyone will have your back. There will be times when you have to navigate your journey on your own. They don’t tell you how hard school will be, or what life will look like through the other end.

Hardships

Growing up, they also don’t tell you about the hardships, they don’t tell you there isn’t the perfect relationship or the perfect job. They don’t tell you that things can sometimes change when you least expect it and you need to be prepared.

Disconnections

They don’t tell you about disconnections with family, with friends, or with siblings. They don’t tell you that you may not grow with confidence and therefore may not aspire to things, or how difficult life can be.

What I have learned is that growing up without the support, life is what we make it – that our values determine how we think and feel about ourselves. I have learned it is important what we think about ourselves and that we shouldn't allow others to control us.

Following our Intuition

I have also learned, it is important we learn how to follow our intuition or gut – that as we learn to rely on our intuition more, we'll get better at working things out and as a result, we'll have less stress to deal with. I have also learned that it is important to stand back, rather than rush into things. That it is important to think things through.

Becoming more Resilient

That through our experiences, we can become more resilient. What they don’t tell us about growing up is that growing up is tough, but we're tough too – and with determination we can get through.