Growing Up Gen Z

What is growing up? I asked my uncle when I was ten. 
He said growing up is doing math and getting a boyfriend.

Since then, I have quite revised what it is to grow
and made a list of things I thought might go:

Growing up is learning to finally tell the time
On an analog clock, not on a Mother Goose rhyme;

Growing up is discovering your favorite flavor of ice cream
It's deciding what foods you like, what shows up in your dreams;

Growing up is imagining where you'll be next year
In fifth grade, in sixth grade, what kinda car you'll steer;

Growing up is picture day and realizing the boys
Are judging you and laughing at you and treating you like a toy;

Growing up is writing poems until your fingers burn
And ignoring the judgemental stares of your "friends" at every turn;

Growing up is picking up the laundry in your home
And realizing your arms can hold more than they could two years ago;

Growing up is being denied the truth about the world
And it's being told that there's only "boy" and "girl";

Growing up is looking around and feeling wrong in your skin;
It's wondering where all these thoughts have ever been;

Growing up is looking around at the girls in your grade
And realizing, holy shit, I'm super fucking gay;

Growing up is feeling sick as you look down at your phone in your hand
And realizing these politicians just don't care about the struggles of their land;

Growing up is questioning everything you've ever known
It's panicking when you realize who you'll be when you're grown—

What is growing up? I asked my future self when I was ten.
I don't know, I responded, but I know I'd do it all again.