In her insightful and candid journey through the tumultuous transition from youth to adulthood, the author confronts the complexities of growing up, the weight of imposter syndrome, and the fragility of life itself. As a recent college graduate, she grapples with the uncertainty of her future and discovers that the idealized path to success is far from straightforward.
This is Abby Thompson, author of the young adult self-help guide Growing.
We spoke with Abby about her recent move to New York City, how writing and planning her book helped her through a tumultuous and relentless phase of her young adult life, and what her focal point in life is.
Your book Growing is primarily about change, which you have recently undergone in an exciting move to New York City. How have you been getting on in the Big Apple?
If New York City were to be personified as a character, they would undoubtedly be hard to understand — this city can be difficult to love at times. However, after having officially spent a year and a half living here, I am so thankful to say that sailing is finally becoming smoother for me! I currently work at the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in their social media department, while also continuing to pursue my interests in both photography and writing.
The transition from youth to adulthood is relentless and tumultuous. Did you decide during this process that you wanted to write this book or was it more recently, reflecting on where you’ve come from?
Writing a book has never been a goal of mine but I needed words, either someone else’s or my own, to help me cope with this challenging time. I couldn’t really find any books from people that were currently in the middle of this particular kind of chaos, so I started writing for myself. I continued to pursue what I felt was the right next step, which lead to publishing, but writing a book was not a conscious decision when I first started this project.
In and amongst the mayhem of adolescence, was there a flagpole or central focus which you always strived to stick to? When writing Growing was your focal point the same?
There are many focal points that I have to remind myself of frequently. One being, although so much easier said than done, not being overly critical or hard on myself. This is an inherently difficult time. As long as I am doing the absolute best I can, with the information and resources I have available, it is sufficient and good enough.
Secondly, I learned that uncertainty isn’t fundamentally bad or dangerous. It feels scary because it’s unknown. When writing Growing, these were two main points of focus that kept me motivated and moving forward when it felt overwhelmingly difficult to do so.
You’ve told us previously that you chose to write this book to give your peers a guiding light through a path you have just travelled. What works (across any creative medium) were your guiding light?
There are no specific works that were my guiding light during this process but instead, I found inspiration by looking to older adults around me. Observing how they live and witnessing their resilience made it clear that getting older isn’t as daunting as I first thought. Continually looking to them has offered me a new perspective - it has helped me feel less unsure about the decades to come, which has started to instil a new-found confidence in me.
Finally, this book seems to have a definitive ending. However, readers will be wondering, is there another title or a follow-up book coming soon? Would that be something you’d like to try your hand at?
I knew that ending the book with my significant move to New York would be a good stopping point, as it was one of the most distinctive moments of my life thus far. At that time, I had absolutely no idea how eventful my first year in New York would turn out to be but I can easily say that there is plenty of content for a potential second book – it’s itching to be written.
