Stop telling me I can do something because I am young. Stop telling me I can work myself to the brink of death while going to school because I am young. Stop telling me it’s ok if I skip a meal because I am young. Stop telling me what I should and shouldn’t do because I am young. Stop telling me what classes I should take, or what I should major in because I am too young to decide myself. And stop treating me as if I cannot and will not one day leave because I am simply too young.

I am too young. Too young to get less than five hours of sleep each night. Too young to have this amount of anxiety bound up tight in me. Too young to be this stressed twenty-four hours seven days a week. I am too young for all the things you say I can do, and I am old enough to do the things you say I am too young for. So what if I make mistakes? Isn’t that what life is all about? I am only twenty and yet I find myself to be so very tired, and stressed, and constantly busy, even when I try to plan otherwise. This is supposed to be the point in life that we live and experience the world without actually having to worry about life ten years down the road. How am I supposed to focus on college while working 14-hour shifts till midnight while I have classes the next morning at eight? Oh wait, you already gave me the answer: because I am young. Oh and let’s not forget about that eight-page paper due in the morning! Looks like I will be spending yet another sleepless night. I work harder than most people twice my age, and you have the nerve to tell me I am not working hard enough. That my generation is entitled. That we are spoiled. My parents didn’t raise the type of person you just described, I apologize if you did, but don’t place your judgment based on your own failures on my back. I am already carrying the weight of the world, and I really don’t need the extra nitpicked thing to worry about. I work hard. I work so damn hard, and I still manage to pull my weight at school. But this, this overbearing understanding society has that I can act like a superhuman because I am young is pushing it too far. I am not Supergirl, trust me, I wish I was. I am also not a robot. I need sleep, I need food, I need to do something not mind-numbingly awful every once in a while. I am a person. Yes, a person. Is that too foreign of a concept for you? All I want is to be treated like a person. To be respected as a person. To have an understanding that I am not perfect and I need a break sometimes. I am too young. I am so very young. But that does not give anyone the right to take advantage of me or my time. This life was meant for me, so please do us both a favor and stop trying to control it.