Dear Past Me

I don’t know what point in time you’re reading this, but I have to tell you something that won’t be uplifting – wherever you are, you are going to fail at things, again and again. But that’s alright, because you know what? You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and you try again. Because the one thing you pride yourself on is not giving up, not giving in, in your ability to take what the world throws at you and come out the other side.

You try different things, different ways to succeed, but sometimes you can look back and wonder if you’ve actually ever succeeded at anything. Sometimes, it feels as if you never do anything nothing right. I can tell you that there are some things in your life that are going right. Because the same drive to try things even though you might fail is what causes you to attempt things you do succeed at. You have got on planes to go several thousand miles away, solo, to meet up with a group of friends.

You never let the world dictate what you should or shouldn’t be interested in. You shouldn’t be interested in video games, because you’re a girl – fuck them, you like them. You shouldn’t put so much effort into your appearance, its shallow – fuck that, you enjoy it. You shouldn’t watch Disney movies, they’re for kids – oh, who the hell cares what people like that think anyway? You’ve never in your life done anything because other people told you to. When Mum tells you to put make-up on and make an effort that day, you stubbornly wear jeans and a hoodie all day. But if someone tells you ‘guys prefer that natural look’ the day after, you’re likely to have done the heaviest, most noticeable make-up job you ever have. You don’t do anything to impress other people. You wear clothes you like, based on what you felt like that morning.

I say this because I know there are points in your life where you do try to hide your interests, because they’re considered uncool. Because you thought people would like you more if you had cool interests? So, let me tell you now that those types of people are not worth bothering with. If people are going to judge you based on what you do for fun, they aren’t anyone you should want as a friend. So, enjoy things that you want to enjoy, because you’ll be a lot happier in the long run.
From you from the future