They say it is hard to raise children. They say I would understand it when I have children of my own. They say I would understand it when I go through the experience myself. It is not easy to raise children into adults. There are so many things that could go wrong.

I hated reunions. It made myself felt so little afterwards. When I was there, I couldn’t help not knowing. But after I knew things, I couldn’t stop comparing. I was congratulating people when they told me the good news, but deep inside I was wondering whether their good news was better than mine. Life wasn’t supposed to be a competition, but it really felt like one.

Social media is like reunion, but the catching up is done through the comfort of your own bed. Scrolling through photos and statuses are too easy to not be done. You know about their social life and where they’ve been last weekend. Then you wonder why they have such flawless hair and make up. How could they look so effortlessly awesome?

There’s a quote that has been said too many times by too many people: I must have done something right to deserve you in my life. Perhaps despite all our wrong doings and mistakes, despite all our failures and imperfections, we have done something right, for something good still happens in life.

The grass is greener on the other side, but often this is just an illusion. Most probably, everyone is as unhappy as you.

Our Peter Pan generation is unhappy. All our lives, we want to grow up—to be treated like adults, to have freedom to choose. Then we get here and it turns out being an adult sucks. We pay the bills and taxes, watching others succeed while we are forever waiting for our turn. We believe we are special, but nothing special has come our way.

And I still don’t know what I would do next. I still don’t know how to become an adult. But I know for sure that my parents would be proud of me, proud of their three daughters, no matter what path we choose. And it doesn’t matter if we get lost or choose the wrong path, because what matters is choosing to get back up once again.

Grades are still important, but they are not the most important things. As clichéd as it is, the things you learn outside class is more important than the textbooks you blindly memorize in time for exams.