What Does It Mean to Grow Up?

Deetya Erusa

Mrs. McDermott-Sipe

ELA Honors 1-D

027 September 2024

What Does it Mean to Grow Up?

You may wonder, what does it mean to grow up? The author Sona Charaipotra

gives an example in her book Symptoms of a Heart Break. The author believes that even after

going through struggles, doubt, hate comments, you can achieve anything if you work hard and

put your passion towards it. “Can I really do this?” Saira says, while looking at her new patient

she has to take care of. (Charaipotra) Saira is doubting herself. Some of her co-workers would

judge her and make her undetermined because she is apparently too young to be a doctor for her

age. Until, she realized she was capable of achieving anything she wanted to! She may have

gotten the bad comments and those struggles, but how did she behave? Or how did she deal with

things?

Saira acted in a way she would have not. Surprising isn’t? Towards the middle of the

book, she acted mean, immature, and kinda selfish, but she didn’t know! “Saira was acting like a

brat,” Lizzy, her best friend, says. “She wanted to do things her way instead of compromising!”

(Charaipotra) She wasn’t aware that she was acting like that, especially how she was treating

others. Growing up can mean losing friends, or getting into conflicts with friends too. Sometimes

growing up also means being independent and not depending on others.

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Saira has learned a lot of things, and she is still learning more. “You have to learn how to

do it and stop depending on others!” Taara, her older sister, says. (Charaipotra) Saira was

learning how to drive with her sister accompanying her. She had to park but was too scared and

just asked her sister to park for her instead. That's when Taara told her she can do this, and that

now she is a bit older, she has to be independent. I feel like learning is a big thing because no

matter what age, you’ll always be learning something, and it can be anything!

This portrays the author believes that you can do anything you want if you work for it.

Growing up means, learning, maturing, and lastly doing what you want to do. Doing these things

is very natural, everyone goes through this. I personally really relate to this book because just

like Saira I have gone through many of the specific stages of growing as she did. This is what

people call growth and you can open new skills and maybe even opportunities. Just think about

it, and maybe this has inspired you too!

Works Cited

Charaipotra, S. (2019). Symptoms of a Heart Break. Macmillan publishers.