Dear 18-year-old me,
I’m 28 and I’m different now. I’m writing to you fueled by hindsight bias and a fully developed prefrontal cortex, trying to let you know that you will be okay. Here’s just a glimpse into some of the lessons you will learn over the next 10 years. Let them free you.
Even when it feels like the end, it isn’t the end.
You make an impact on people whether you intend to or not and people will impact you in life altering ways without realizing it.
Some goodbyes turn into I’ve missed you so much. But some goodbyes end up being the last one. Sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t. Goodbyes are hard and memories can hurt, but only because you let yourself love and love is worth it.
Gratitude might just be the key to happiness.
A couple months before you leave for college you are going to be drinking a chocolate milkshake in your car, in the parking lot of Snuffy’s Malt Shop. Nicole is going to ask you, “what is your greatest fear” and you will say “being alone.” But you’ll soon learn that you’re never alone because you will always have you. You will learn to love it.
You will never stop missing something, someone, a time or a place. That’s okay. Nostalgia lasts a lifetime and it just means you’ve lived a life filled with feeling.
Nothing stays the same. That’s the nature of being.
Eat chocolate when you feel like you want chocolate. Guilt free.
Your family will save you. Over and over again. From helping you shovel snow when you’re living alone to helping you process through every sort of problem. They are the reason you made it to your 28th birthday.
There are no “right decisions.” Let this free you of your indecisiveness.
I remember you. I remember what it felt like to be you. Confused and lovely and embodying every emotion so deeply. I’m so proud of who you are and who you will become. Sure, you could have stuck up for yourself more when those boys called you names or worried less about what to wear or what your test scores were or what to eat for lunch, but all of that led us here and I’m so happy we made it here. The next 10 years are going to be terrible and magical. Feel it all because that’s what life’s about.
Love,
Miranda