TURNING 22

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Ocean

That's the thing about growing up

No one prepares you for it

No one tells you about the whirlwind that will take over

Once you step out into the real world

When you'll be buying your own groceries

Hunting your first apartment

Learning to pay the bills

And just keeping it all together

To make it back to work 

On mornings you'd rather just be curled up with a cup of tea

But I hope slowly it starts making sense 

 

I come back to poetry

In the hope it'll remind me of who I was

That it'll make sense of who I will be

That with every verse I write 

I'll learn to ground myself

Especially on days when everything seems to be happening too fast

When my poetry will jump from one idea to another 

Just as life does

 

And I find beauty in it,

In the unpredictability

In the fact that nothing that's broken can't be repaired

That you can always choose to come back

And start again

That you can kindle old friendships

And laugh about it on the terrace

That even when your hometown seems to change completely

While you were away for college

You'll find the petrichor still holds the same fragrance of the mud

When it rains

That your old school has a new class of students playing football in the football field

In the uniforms that you once wore

And when life seems to be running past you

I hope you can hold on to these things that ground you

Like coming back to poetry on June evening

Like finding time for yourself

And I know it's not easy

You'd rather be scrolling videos on your phone 

You're too exhausted to do anything else

But I hope you find the energy to get yourself a glass of water

When you're feeling tired

To call up the friend across the country

And ask for acknowledgement

Of everything you've been going through

To ask to be understood

I hope you know it's not too much

To ask for help

I hope you know it's never too late

You're still figuring out things

You're not required to have things correct at the first shot

And more likely that not you will make an error

And I hope you realise that that's okay

You're allowed to fall

You're allowed to be vulnerable

You're allowed to have bad days

To not be where you had imagined yourself to be five years before

To change your dreams

To change your life

It's never too late

To become the person you like

It's never too late to create boundaries

And choose peace

There is no sin in prioritizing yourself

And I know change scares you

But change can be good

Change can be for the better

Change can be beautiful

And it doesn't have to be perfect

Just like this poem

It doesn't need to tick all the boxes

It just needs to speak to you

Your story just needs to make sense to you.

 

 

 

Image
Picture of me on the shore of Kerela
Turning 22
Poetry
India