These are some things to remember. Sticky–note them to your wall, scribble them down on your palms but please, keep them in your heart and in your mind for as long as you can.
1. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never please everyone. It’s cliché, I know, but it has to be said because we are taking risks, breaking our spines from bending over backwards too much.
2. It’s okay to not know where you’re going, what you’re doing, who to be, or what to see. Even the greatest minds didn’t have it all figured out by the age of whatever.
3.You will get your heart broken. Not only by boys, not only by girls, but by places, songs, faces you’ve never even met. Like your dream university, the one you built your life around entering, thinking that one day you would bleed the colors blue, maroon, yellow, or green. Your favorite animals going extinct. Not meeting a minimum to stay on top. Life isn’t smooth sailing, but listen to me.
4. Your failures don't define who you are. The scars they leave are there to make you human. It’s natural to feel like shit on days when it feels like the universe is against you. It’s okay, your feelings are valid. Cry when you need to, get angry and yell, but never, please, never put all the blame on yourself. You have tiny shoulders, but big dreams and never, ever let your failures crush those.
5. Listen to the chocolate bar and take a break because –
6. You deserve to treat yourself every once in a while. A pint of ice cream, a movie marathon; you’ve worked hard so reward yourself with what makes you happy.
7. The small things count. The way the ocean always returns to the shoreline, the bass line of your favorite song, your pet being excited to see you come home to them. The smell of freshly laundered sheets, the flow of traffic-free streets, the feeling of getting the crispy chicken skin. Remember the little things.
8. Some people, no matter what they say, won't give a damn. You can hand them the world on a silver plate and they won’t even bat an eyelash. They’ll take your world away and lock in a chest, throw away the key and make you start all over again. That is why you never leave planets and comets in the bones of another. Don’t make a body your gravity because if they leave, everything will fall like an apple from a tree.
But I promise,
9. There are still people who care. The friends who will listen to you cry past 11:00pm, sit with you on stairs, and hold you throughout all of it. The boy or girl who will love you for all you are when your celebrity crush is too far away. The family friend who you can take to prom because you’d rather catch up than make awkward small talk. And most important of all, the friends who will stand with you through all of it: through the bad, the good, the beautiful, and the really, freaking ugly. These are the people you can anchor your boats to when the tides are too high for you to keep sailing, and they will never let the waves sweep you away.
Lastly, I hope,
10. I can be one of those friends. Remember you can lean on me, tell me all your stories, and I’ll keep them locked in my heart only to return to you when you need them. 10, we can take baby steps to get through everyday together, be on training wheels for as long as we need to until we’re ready to just go, and go, and go, but we’re also ready to come home. 10, I’ll try to make you as happy as I can because I can’t see my universe without you.
