today i spoke to a sweet fourteen-year-old.

picture me: being my chaotic twenty-four-year old self, in one of my rotational coffee shops, sipping matcha, switching between tabs. not knowing what the fuck i’m doing. sort of understanding my needed steps, but being afraid of failure.

and then she spoke to me.

“what do you do for work?”

i hesitated, and she asked if i’m still in school. i told her i am creating a business, even though i studied education. i asked her why she asked.

her words let me into an exploration of herself. she mentioned at least ten things she was interested in. but, kept coming up to the same words: putting things together. solving. figuring it out. problem-solving.

and then her voice trembled. she wanted to explore, but she was afraid of failure. i smiled and tried to reassured her it is meant to be there for us. we are put here to try and keep going. try and keep going. try and keep going.

no matter what giants you’re going against, or if you scraped your knee while running, or if you’re just a youngling and people smile at you while you’re figuring it out. you try and keep going.

i hugged her for a second. felt a little awkward. i mean, she was a fourteen-year-old baby crying in front of what she thought was an adult woman with her life figured out! i hope she was able to see that things time. it is a confusing time to be a teen. and to be an adult. and just be a human. but we try and keep going.

i gave her a resource that helped me take agency as a young flower. i hope that helps her. i wanted to hug her so much more and really engrave in her noodle that things get easier. yeah you fail, and yeah it’s always hard. but loving yourself and giving yourself grace gets easier. coping get easier. so failure loses the monstrosity and just becomes what it could be. but not what it has to be.

when will a 34 year old let me cry it out?