I am a Person

I am a real person.

Although this may seem like a somewhat obvious statement, I am still in the process of understanding its full implications. Silly though it may be, since turning eighteen a couple months ago, I have been struck with a new realization of who I am as a person, as an individual. You might call it a sort of identity crisis, or quest.

It is strange to transition from being mainly associated with a family to establishing yourself as an individual person, an adult. Someone who’s reputation, who’s character, is no longer determined by the actions of their parents, but by their own individual decisions.

It's intimidating, it's scary. It's freeing, exciting, exhilarating. Here I am, a real person, able to make real decisions and to do real things. It feels as if the world is watching, beckoning me to enter but still holding it's breath, peeking around corners and peering up from a newspaper, trying to catch a glimpse and see if I will fly or fail. I, too, am holding my breath - scoping out my surroundings, anxious but ready - ready to take the plunge.