Not A Girl, Not yet A Woman

“I’m not a girl, Not yet a woman, All I need is time, A moment that is mine, While I'm in between, I’m not a girl” These words from Britney Spears’ famous song “Not a girl, not yet a woman” describe precisely what a young woman feels at the age when teens are out and tweens have set in. Not young enough to be called a “girl”, not prudent enough to be called a “woman”. This age is full of unexplained desires, fears, anxieties, heartaches and much more. In short, this age can be described as the “Mid mid life crisis!!”

We’ve all crossed and survived the tumultuous teenage years which were complete with its own bitter and sweet moments. Now, we’ve moved on from playing with dolls, to being one and the hands of many… our boyfriends, our bosses, parents… the list just goes on… Right from living upto our parents’ expectation then, to living upto other people’s expectations from us, now, somewhere down the line we’ve just forgotten what are expecting from ourselves. Lived for everyone, but forgotten to live for ourselves.

Teens are over, tweens have seeped in. ‘You’ve grown up’ is what parents say endlessly, and for a change you actually agree with them, for you’ve seen the world in a way that they had not. This rat race, sickening competition,crumpling others to get ahead… things like such never existed then. All this has only made you wise. You’ve actually grown up…. But have you, actually grown up?Have you really become wise? Think of all the tears shed for all the backstabbing, for all the heartbreaks, for all the emotional pain you’ve gone through. You’re above 18, an adult, eligible to vote and can legally get married, according to the Constitution of India. It considers you sagacious enough to be able to decide the country’s future, unfaltering, and you do, but you falter so many times while making a decision concerning yourself.

In a way, this can be attributed to the age and the hormones! It’s such a temptation to be able to resist the lures of life. In so many ways life as a teenager is different from life as a tweenager and in so many ways it is similar. Like you no longer feel guilty about lying to parents for that one date with your guy( you’ve gotten immune to the lying bit!). Life is much more than HIM, it is also about your career which will not take a back seat, this wasn't the case when you were a teen… life revolved and rotated around just one person. Life’s only tensions then were attendance problems, fights with friends over time not spent with them, pacifying parents who ranted over the huge phone bills. But now life is about meeting deadlines, pacifying your boss, avoiding fights with colleagues. But the underlining part of being a Woman remains the same.

The want to be loved and sheltered…. The need to be pampered and cared for… they did and always will make any one go week in their knees at any age…! The lives then and now may have changed and will keep on changing but the basic nature of being a Woman will always remain the same. The gentleness, the love, the care, the touch… all these things will continue to be an inseparable part of being a Woman. We, right now, are not girls and not exactly women but we’re out of one phase ready to enter another and experience life through the glasses of Womanhood! Here’s celebrating ‘Womanhood’!