A Letter to My 16 Year Old Self:
Dear Me,
I don't care what they say. You are beautiful. I don't care what names you are called behind whispering mouths hidden by their hands. You are beautiful. But not that kind of beautiful. I mean you are, but that's not what I'm talking about. They will call you a nerd, a b****, "That Quiet Girl", "That Chick with Blue Eyes", a geek, and so many other things. But you're just fine the way you are.
You are going to fail miserably in everything you thought you knew. People are going to put you down every single day, and you're going to start struggling on a daily basis to pay your bills and to buy food.
But you'll be okay. You have grown so much. Four years ago, you were holding on to if some boy liked you, abandonment issues, loneliness problems, and you'd just moved 12 hours away from home to Mayberry, where everyone and everything was so perfect that it was wrong. In 2 years, you'll have met some of the best friends you could ask for from high school, all the boys will be different, and you'll be heading to college. In 4 years, you'll still be struggling, but you will finally be on the right path.
You'll stop being shy, and you're going to make some HUGE mistakes. But I'm not going to warn you. You've got to make them, or else you won't become me. And I am happy for once in my life. I've never faced so many struggles and been so unsure of where I'll be this time next year. But you have some amazing experiences ahead of you. You'll meet two more of the best friends you're ever going to meet (so, yeah, you can make friends even though right now you don't think you can or will). You'll get to do most of the things you love still.
If I could tell you one thing it's this: Don't let go of your faith, and keep on being you. Keep on repeating that motto in your head that you have since you were 13...Live and let God. Life is going to suck. You will cry yourself to sleep even though you haven't cried in years. You're going to go make mistakes because you are upset and you are going to rebel like you've never thought you had in you. Stand up for what is right, and keep on going. You've got this, girl!
Much love,
Ali
