Give me your advice, I’ll take it or leave it…

Everyone needs someone to look up to.  Someone who has been in their shoes, who can offer guidance and the perspective that age brings. 

A lot of times when I was young, I didn’t want to be told what to do; I couldn’t believe that someone had been there and might have any idea what it was like.  I was confident and I was stubborn.  I wanted to be in control; to find my own way.

But as I’ve gotten older I’ve become a better listener.  I ask questions with genuine interest and try to learn from their answers.   

But I still don’t want to be told what to do or how to feel, when I know with the utmost conviction that they don’t understand.  I want to be the one asking the questions.  I’ll choose whether I like the answer.

I am constantly being told what I need to be doing, how to eat, what should be important to me, and more and more what I should not be doing.  I don’t mean what to eat; I mean how to eat it.  I need to relearn how to eat.

I know that I’ve changed, that I’ve grown up a lot, but sometimes I still feel like that kid who won’t listen, who just wants control of his life. 

I didn’t have control then, and I don’t have it now.