Looking for the light switch

At 15, I started going off the rails: month-long detentions; school suspensions; brushes with the police. Going into my final year of school, things weren’t looking great. My parents were exasperated.

But then, something changed - almost overnight. I never became a model student, but I suddenly seemed to get my act together. It was weird. Even now, my Mum says it was like a light switch went off.

Teenage angst perhaps? I’m not so sure. Because throughout our journeys we might spend time in unlit rooms. And right now, a lot of us are finding ourselves there.

Perhaps we’re groping for the light switch. Or we’re getting a little tired of the search. Maybe we feel we’re just shouting into the darkness.

Switching these lights on for ourselves can be really tough.

But switching them on others? Far less so.

There are rooms you know well. Whether it’s a flickering torch, a dusty desk lamp, or a grand chandelier -  you can probably help their occupants find a light switch.

Last week I was chatting with my Mum about that time. Suddenly, she realized when the light switch went off. It was immediately after the first semi-legal forest rave I organised. And just like that, another light switch went off - for both of us.