"Growing Pains"

Creative Writing, Coming-of-Age, Philosophy

Growing Pains

Aarti Prochnow, seasonal writer

You’re thirteen years old. You’re lying in bed with dull pains shooting through your legs every few seconds. And it hurts. It’s the worst pain you’ve yet to experience in your short and coddled life. There is blunt throbbing that goes down to the marrow of your bones. It doesn’t stop and your inability to make it stop somehow makes the pain worse. You can barely remember what it feels like to not be in pain.

And you’re angry.

You’re angry that it’s been hours since you went to bed. You’re angry that it’s been days since your last peaceful painless sleep. You’re angry at your parents for letting this happen to you. You’re angry at your sibling for sleeping peacefully in the next room and for not being stuck in the same agonizing wakefulness you are. And you’re angry at the universe for sitting silently and being complicit with this awful injustice.

At least that was my experience with growing pains. I spent that time furious with the world for my tragedy, not even noticing that I was already taller, walking faster, and seeing further than I was just a few short weeks ago. It was only after the pain had passed that I was able to realize and appreciate any progress I had made.

That was growth. It was painful, grueling, and not an experience I look back upon fondly. People tend to romanticize growth or at least the effort that is put into it. But at the end of the day, growth hurts— whether its your adolescent growing pains or your time spent in detention or your hours of training for your chosen sport. Growth is not fun. To be frank it’s boring. Growth is monotonous, tiring, and oftentimes painful.

But without growth, there is no anticipation, and no appreciation. There is no excitement of checking to see whether you’re tall enough to ride the roller coaster yet. There is no feeling of bliss after your punishment is finished when your sins have been cleansed and you are once again the innocent bystander whom no one will be angry with. There is no eagerness to see if you’re able to beat your rival yet. The pain is proportional to the joy you experience afterwards.

Growth is painful but what comes afterwards is the furthest feeling from pain you’ve yet to experience. Once the pain is gone, there is nothing but the feeling of exhilaration as you lunge towards the world with your broadened abilities and test your newfound limits.

Gloating over my friends that I now towered above, I could barely remember the feeling of pain in my legs.

"It’s like the more you literally push your boundaries, the more your limits of the human range of feeling, experience, and emotion are increased! And I think this is what this piece touches on."

- RJ