Accelerated.

What is acceleration?

The rate of change of velocity. The amount by which velocity changes in a given period of time.

Suddenly ending up in your final year of high school and having no idea how you got there so fast.

Having to deal with university applications, reference letters, gap years, entrance exams, and four subjects at A2, all at once.

Sitting in class for an entire hour and a half and having the entire lesson just fly off the top of your head.

Seeing friends scatter towards their respective destinies and wondering how on earth they grew up so fast when they were immature little kiddies just a few weeks ago.

Saying goodbye to the city you never wanted to say hello to, then realizing just how painful saying the former has become over a very short time.

Thinking about leaving and farewells in general: packing suitcases and teary airport scenes.

Realizing that you’ll miss the stupidest little things that you never really appreciated until they whizzed away from you.

Standing in the midst of your life’s story not as its protagonist, but as some helpless object frozen in time.

But, most profoundly, acceleration is your perception of the passage of time, and how you choose to respond to it. The truth is, we all feel a little rushed and not in control at times. What makes the difference is how you deal with it.

I for one, am going to keep smiling, and even more so when the world wants me to frown.

I am going to avoid procrastination, and exploit every moment.

I am going to be grateful, and pray, and find my happiness by helping others find theirs.

Or, at the very least, I am going to try.