Becoming yourself

So out you come. The umbilical cord is snipped. You become the nexus of potential, possibility and joy. But you soon realize that the potential is someone else's potential for your excellence, and your possibilities are corralled by someone else's expectation of your potential and that joy (yours and theirs) is always connected to pain. You can't understand why it's so hard for them to let you become who you need to be.  Then you realize it's also hard for you to let you become who you need to be. But then you discover that you are just a human being like every other human being. And it's clear sailing from then on.