Letter to me

Dear newly graduated from high school self,

You are about to embark on a 9 month adventure that you are not prepared for. At all. You think you are...but you're wrong.

Right now, you think that you are going to stay in touch with all of your high school friends, and keep those friendships close to your heart. You are wrong. You will stay in touch with a few friends from high school, and the ones that you do still talk to will be there for the rest of your life. The rest of them will not be. And that's okay. Please remember that. People will come and go in your life, that is one thing you will learn this year.

In fact, the most important person to you right now will leave your life in a few months. Nothing could have prepared you for that. It will suck and it will be sad and you will cry a lot...but I am here to tell you that you are going to be okay.

Not just okay, you are going to become better because of it. Stronger, happier, wiser, more independent -- better. You will learn to be brave, you will learn that it is okay to not be okay, you will learn that you do not need validation from anyone. Right when you think the world is ending, please remember that you will become so much better than you could have ever imagined -- in every single aspect of your life.

The people you meet this year will have a lasting impact on your life. Whether they are a teacher, or a sorority sister, you will be influenced and inspired by new faces that will teach you so much. Listen to them.

At some point, you will have a choice: to stay in and study or to go out with your friends. Go out. You are smart, you will do well on that test you have been studying for for hours. Have fun. You deserve it.

Also remember that at some point you will have the choice to go out, or stay in and binge watch Netflix. Stay in. Eat that whole pizza, watch a whole season of Grey's, lay in sweatpants all day. You work so hard and deserve some "me time".

This year you will realize how important your family is in your life. You will realize how much they have done for you the past 18 years, things including but not limited to: cooking you meals (you will miss that as you eat buttered noodles for the 10th night in a row), helping you study, being your counselor at every moment, making you laugh, taking care of you when you're sick, buying you groceries, waiting up for you to make sure you're okay, etc. Thank them. Go visit as often as possible, squeeze your brothers tight, go to lunch with your sister. Your family will cry with you at your worst, and celebrate with you at your best. Don't take them for granted.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but you are far from prepared for this 9 month adventure. The good news is that after this year, you will be on the path to become the person you have always strived to be.

Be brave, have fun, and remember that change is good.

From,
Your just finished your first year in college self


P.S. -- I would start learning about hockey ASAP