Dear Angsty Teen Version of Yourself,

At this time in your life, fresh into college or fresh out of it, you probably haven't given yourself much time to reflect on what brought you to this point in life. Well, now is the perfect time to give yourself a pat on the back. Not only did you successfully make it to (or finally finish) an advanced level of education, you've also invested in your future.

When everything seemed so out of control, as if fate was not considering your wishes at all when sightseeing the timeline of your life, now you're in control. You're on your way to complete control of your life and it feels so good!

No longer will you be controlled by the raging demonic hormones that not only showed your doubt through anger, hot cysts, and pimples on your face, but also through the way you held yourself-- not with confidence as an heir apparent to great success and change in this world-- but like you were somehow ashamed of yourself even though you had absolutely nothing to be ashamed about.

No longer will you not have a say in; where you go, who to beg for a ride, what to wear or what not to wear, if God will punish you if you miss one Sunday sermon, or what happens if you miss curfew.

Not like those things didn't matter. They taught you to be disciplined, self-respecting and respectful, understanding, mature, aware, motivated and interactive.

But now the lessons you learned are not bound by duty or obligation. Now, you're free to decide if you're ready to enact them without someone else telling you that you have too, and that feels so exhilarating.

Because now you have the tools to be successful in life and no one can tell you to use them or not too. Most people's inclination leans towards the desire to be successful, so no worries if the thought of being completely responsible for your fate becomes overwhelming.

It can be a shocking surprise when your mom or dad isn't there to spark the ignition and get you on your feet to success. You might stumble, hesitate, or refuse at times.

But that's the beauty of life; we are given many grace periods to screw up, and most people are pretty understanding because screw-ups are natural for human beings. Now it's in your power to make and control your success.

So go out there, get on with your life and try on your new wheels. Take advantage of the lessons taught (deliberate or not), and make lemons out of lemonade.

You can thank your angsty teen version of yourself for going through all those ugly moments, those days when you didn't want to face the world. I'm sure they weren't easy or pretty to go through. So raise a glass for the part of yourself that acted as a building block for the rest of your amazing successful life. You both deserve it.

As some might say, things can only look up once you've hit rock bottom.

All the love,

You