“So what are your plans for the future?” A question I have always viewed as an unsettling one.

The only answer I have always had for it is “I’m not sure.”Which is actually very unlike me , as i’m a person who likes to have each and everything planned out in front of me.However, when it comes to the future and the unknown it causes such a huge sense of anxiety and uncertainty that not being sure about it is the only thing i feel.

Every year on my birthday,I have cried.The thought that I am yet again a year older and with this new number comes a new set of expectations and responsibilities is a thought that consumes me day and night.Growing up is quite frightening.Independence is as daunting as it is liberating.And the thought of failing to meet adult expectations and the expectations i hold for myself looms over my head like dark cloud.

It is the fear that I am not emotionally equipped to handle adult relationships with the people around me and the fear of losing the connections I now hold and the uncertainty I feel when I think of the new connections to come.

It is the thought that one decision now, one mistake could have such extensive consequences.As a teenage girl in grade 11, the exams I'm going to give in  the coming year will define the rest of my life.Or so i am told.Aren’t we too young for this?Too young to be giving exams that affect a majority of our lives and too young to be making these life changing decisions.It is the weight of these expectations that are crushing.The expectations of having it all figured out.