No one can tell me what to do.

没人能对我指手画脚。

Well, except mom.

嗯…除了我妈妈。

No one except my mom can tell me what to do.

除了我妈妈没人能对我指手画脚。

And maybe, girlfriend.

可能我女朋友可以。

No one except my mom and my girlfriend can tell me what to do.

除了我妈妈和女朋友没人能对我指手画脚。

Well, my manager as well.

嗯…老板也可以。

No one except my mom, my girlfriend and my manager can tell me what to do.

除了我妈妈、女朋友和老板没人能对我指手画脚。

Also, the bank.

还有银行。

No one except my mom, my girlfriend, my manager and my bank can tell me what to do.

除了我妈妈、女朋友、老板和银行没人能对我指手画脚。

I forgot the law enforcement.

我忘了法律制裁了。

No one except my mom, my girlfriend, my manager, my bank and the law enforcement can tell me what to do.

除了我妈妈、女朋友、老板、银行和法律制裁没人能对我指手画脚。

This is what freedom smells like!

这就是自由的滋味！

Some of the best benefits of growing up which aren’t often spoken of:

不经常被人们提起的长大最大的好处：

Not feeling locked into the immutable¹ social categories set for you by your peers (ie., not feeling defined by others);不再感觉被禁锢在身边人为你设定的一成不变的社交范畴了（也就是说，不再感觉被别人定义了）；The development of significantly better self-esteem, which might previously² have been trounced on a daily basis by toxic³ parents or other children and bullies⁴ you had no choice being around;更好地培养自尊，以前自尊可能每天会被你身边无法选择的糟糕的父母或其他孩子和爱欺负别人的人所践踏；The ability to choose the people you want to hang out with or avoid;有能力选择想要交往或躲开的人；

Finding a way to recognize and accept your own skills and weaknesses, and knowing how to compensate⁵ or learn from the latter;找到一种方法认清并接受自己的技能和弱点，知道如何规避弱点或从弱点中学习；The ability to have significant personal insight about what love-interests, jobs, and studies are best suited for your particular personality type and psychological needs;有重要的自我洞察能力，知道什么深爱的兴趣、工作和学习最适合自己独特的个性和心理需求；Learning the real meaning of joy, happiness and achievement in your own life, and how to better slough⁶ off pain, failure and disappointments.

学会了自己生命中快乐、幸福和成就的真正含义，以及如何摆脱痛苦、失败和失望。

When we were kids, we all wanted to grow up in order not to ask for pocket money from parents! And when we grow up, we are always bewildered about what to do now!

当我们还是孩子时，我们都想长大，就不用再跟父母要零花钱了！长大了我们又总是困惑现在该做点什么！

Such are humans. But wait, being adult is not as bad as it seems.

这就是人。但等一下，做个成年人也没有看起来那么糟。

We earn, even if it is meagre but a sense of independence is so cool我们赚钱了，虽然赚的少但独立的感觉真棒

We can get married, even if no one really wants to. But you stand a chance, if you are willing, of course我们可以结婚，即使没人真想结婚，但你有这个选择，当然得你愿意才行We can drink alcohol. It is not the best thing I tasted but atleast was eligible⁷ to try我们可以喝酒。虽然酒不是我喝过的最好的东西，但至少有资格喝了We can vote, even if I might never be benefitted direct but that blue ink gives a sense of responsibility我们可以投票，虽然我可能永远成不了直接受益者，但蓝色墨水给了我一种责任感We can take our parents out, even if the destination is the nearest and most affordable⁸ one but they deserve it我们可以带父母出去了，虽然目的地是最近的最能承担得起的，但父母值得这样的回报We can be parents, legally, as 18 (21 for men) and above is deemed to be responsible法律上讲我们可以做父母了，18岁（男性21岁）及以上被认为可以负责任了But we still can’t overrule what our fathers declare. We still can't turn the phone off when out with our buddies⁹. We still can't say No to our parents when they drag us to weddings. We still can't eat pizza and burgers everyday!

但爸爸说的话我们仍然不能反驳，和朋友出去仍然不能关机，被父母逼婚时仍然不能说“不”，披萨和汉堡仍然不能每天都吃！

Growing up is not easy!

成长并非易事！