The growing pains

ADOLESCENCE is about becoming adult, about leaving behind childhood dependence, about learning to stand on your own and take responsibility for your self and for your feelings, thoughts, dreams and actions. It is about letting go of blaming parents, teachers and society for how you feel, and it is about seeking the support and means to become your own person.

Adolescence is also about looking within to see what fears, anxieties, doubts and insecurities you are carrying from childhood, and becoming determined to bring to consciousness the immense power you have to be independent, separate and to live your own life.

Young people who achieve, or are on the way to attaining, such self-belief and self-responsibility are the future bedrock of a mature society, but, sadly, growing up sounds easy on paper. How many of us — teenagers and adults — really grow up?