Dear Younger Self,

As you're growing up, it is important to know that things and people change. You won't be friends with the same people you knew in third grade, your parents and family will change, and you'll even go through some changes yourself, but that is life. What is important for you to remember is that you must allow them to change. It is unnatural to hold on to the past by any means, which is something you will have to learn. You have to grow as a person, and that means you have to learn to let people go.

You also have to learn to give the love that you receive. As you grow up, you'll notice that you will choose to love people more than they intend to love you. It is okay to let go and ease up on your love, and I promise that it will bring you so much peace. Your love and your heart are both precious things that only a select few people truly deserve.

Along with learning who deserves your love, you must also learn to love yourself. Your curly hair and the gap between your teeth make you special and different, which means you should celebrate them, not hide them. Your skin is a beautiful shade of brown that you should never be uncomfortable in, for your skin displays your strength and the strength of so many before you who fought for the right to be heard. The combination of these three things make you unique and beautiful, and they deserve your love.

You must also persue your dreams. You were not put on this earth to be a follower or a robot that cannot think for herself. It is not your job to please everyone, it is your job to help contribute to society and become the best version of yourself. That means that you give up what is making you unhappy, and you find joy somewhere else. Here is a hint: singing leads to acting, and acting leads you to the best second family and group of friends that you will have thus far.

Being unapologetically who you are is one of the most important lessons that I can give you. I know that you feel alone and scared, but I can promise that life will be okay. You will get through the middle school horrors, the intimidation of high school, the family drama, and your fears of the future to become a strong young woman who strives to help people in any way that she can. You are unique, you are important, and you are loved, no matter how you feel at the time. You are you, and you should never want to be anyone else.

Go conquer the world.

Love,

Me