MR Writers Club Prompt: Does Growing Up Have to Hurt?

Have you heard of the Man Repeller Writers Club? Every month we pose a story idea, you write about it and then send it to us (write@manrepeller.com) with the subject line “MR Writers Club.” We go through all submissions and post the winner on the first Friday of every month. Ready? Let’s go.

Sometimes when I look back on my writing, I’m startled by how repetitive the themes are, and how often I’ve come to a realization only to relearn it a year later with different props. This makes me wonder if writing is actually therapeutic or if it’s just a literal representation of the dizzying process of learning. Maybe both? Either way, if I ever needed proof you can’t brute-force life lessons, my byline at Man Repeller would be a good place to start.

Growing up is one of our favorite topics to cover on this website/supper club/group therapy session/nude beach colony, because it’s one of those rare human experiences that is somehow both universal and singular. Exhilarating and terrible. Expected and yet unpredictable. And maybe a little repetitive. So for this month’s round of Writers Club, I have not a prompt, exactly, but a question: Does growing up have to hurt?

You can endeavor to answer this philosophical quandary in whatever way feels right: a personal anecdote, a fictional story, an op-ed, a letter to your younger (older?) self. The floor is yours, just send it to us in 500 words or less at write@manrepeller.com on or by Friday, August 30th.

Photo by Gerhard Fitzthum via Getty Images.

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