When I grow up, I want to be the best me I can be. 

When I grow up, I want to be able to say that I worked my hardest to get the life I want. I want all the years of school I spent sitting for hours in classes that I may or may not have enjoyed, making sure I studied hard enough and truly learned the material to be for my benefit. 

I hope that when I grow up, I can look back and know that all of that hard work has paid off, propelling me into the future I choose for myself. As tiring and mundane as it seems right now, I know it doesn’t last forever, and it all serves as a basis for my future bank of knowledge. 

When I grow up, I desire to have healthy friendships and relationships. Friends come and go—I know that. I hope that I can take positive moments with me, but also the lesson-learned moments from those past and present relationships with me as I form lifelong friends; I hope I can one day say I met some of my best friends all the way back in high school or college. 

Having friendships first comes with being a good person. Not to say that this isn’t a goal on my mind in the present—it without a doubt is—but when I grow up, I hope those around me can say that I am a genuine person who has a heart for others. 

More concretely speaking, when I grow up, I want to be a veterinarian—animals have been one of my constant passions throughout the majority of my life, so a career involving the animal world has always been on my mind and is a goal I’m striving for in the present. 

When I grow up, I want my life to be abundant in people, places, and moments that I love. 

When I grow up, I want to travel the world. I don’t necessarily mean this literally, but I do want to get around, see new sights, and experience new cultures outside the ones I already know. I want the freedom to be spontaneous and go see the wonders that make my mind float on clouds of wonder. Whether it be the state of Oregon or the island of Antigua, traveling anywhere makes me happy, and so, when I grow up, I want to make new places the places I can escape to when I need the vacation. 

When I grow up, I want to be able to go with whatever life brings me. Looking back on trivial little events that were once taking over my world, I want grown-up me to know that those minuscule moments don’t matter, and I should just focus on moving forward. 

But overall, when I grow up, I simply want to be happy. I want to be a person surrounded by family, friends, and people who really care about me, and I want to do the things I love.