how to defeat a hostile life

Teenage distractedness in the Little Shop of Harmony, in the form of a 19-year-old summer help. In the middle of the "everyone-else-is-on-vacation" stress I'm frustrated and fascinated.

I thought I was lacking focus and a sense of direction. By comparison to a teenager, I suddenly seem wonderfully skilled, knowledgeable and, above all, wise to the world. I stand my ground when one particularly scruffy regular is trying to manipulate his way into a discount and I shrug off a nasty insult by a bitter old lady instead of coming apart at the seams as I once would have.

Maybe there are a few advantages to growing up after all. I may envy this teenager her fresh beauty and the adventurous years ahead of her. But I know things she doesn't. I know how to type fast, learn a language and fix a computer (if it's only a little broken). I know that when life tries to kill you, you defeat life by living it. Stubbornly and with dedication.