Dear five-year-old me,

First off, enjoy the short hair while it still compliments your face. After puberty fully hits, short hair will not be a good thing. Please keep this in mind when you are in high school and get an urge to chop it off.

Anyways, let us get to the more pressing and present matters. First off, you are autistic. You will not find this out until you are nineteen. Society has recognized that autism is an actual diagnosis at this point in time, but they do not realize yet that it is on a spectrum. You will not get diagnosed because you are high functioning, but trust me, you are on it. You are not just “shy” and “quiet.” You will have increased anxiety in social situations. Please get help from either a therapist or someone who can help you better function in social interactions. Also, your fear of public speaking is due to your anxiety. It will never go away, just letting you know now.

You also have depression, ADD, and mild OCD. Don’t worry. With the correct dosage of medication, the depression will practically go away. You will still struggle with ADD in academic situations. You are not lazy, and you are not irresponsible. You are not procrastinating (all the time). You have a medical problem with paying attention and focusing.

Let’s move on to your physical health. In the first grade, you will have a lot of gastrointestinal issues. You have IBS with chronic constipation. You will have this problem for the rest of your life. Be prepared for a lot of flareups, especially as you start puberty. I recommend going on birth control as soon as you begin getting periods. They will help calm down your gut during your cycles. You will also develop chronic acid reflux. Tums are your best friend. There will be foods and restaurants that you can no longer eat at because they will be associated with stomach pain. Additionally, we will develop high gluten intolerance at twenty-one, so enjoy all the gluten now.

Finally, we should address the speech impediment. It will not help with your anxiety. There is nothing we can do about that. Just know that it is not your fault when others cannot understand you. Put in extra effort into learning how to spell. The popular trend for spelling is Phonetics, which is learning how to spell words by pronouncing them. Somehow, our teachers never caught onto how that is not a productive learning method for us at all. We are horrendous at spelling now, even with spell-check. So please, please, learn how to spell. We still get made fun of it today by our own mother.

I know all of this sounds so bleak and depressing. But trust me, our twenties are where it’s at. Granted, I am only twenty-two when I am writing this, but still. I look back now and see all the red flags of my mental health issues. While I am grateful that I was eventually able to get the help I needed, I would have changed my life significantly had I received them when I started exhibiting the symptoms.

I hope you can take this advice and have a better childhood health-wise than I had.

Sincerely,

Brianna, age 22

Hi RJ as a 13 year old. I think I’m writing to you at the correct time? What I’m going for is you like right after middle school, so I think I have the age frame correct? If I don’t, whoopsie daisies, If I got you too old, well that sucks. Too young, doesn’t really matter nearly as much. Anyways, your parents will try and make you attend catholic school in 9th grade. Even though you aren’t catholic, and nobody in your family is. The school will be riddled with asbestos, and senile nuns that somebody allowed to teach for some reason. It will also suck massively, and will be a massive waste of time and money. So stop messing stuff up in middle school, so they feel comfortable sending you to a public school. Even if you do go there, you’ll end up in public school for 10th grade anyways, because they will have the same shocking realization that you will have as well. 

Dear 10 year old Kayla,

Never give up your dreams. If there is one thing that you should know it is that sometimes it’s impossible to please everyone no matter how hard you try. You are STRONG. You are SMART. You are BRAVE. Don’t waste your time hanging on every word that others say, follow your heart. Some people may question what you want to do in life and that’s okay but follow your heart and your passion. Don’t waste your time in the past, spend time in the present. You will have so many great friends in your life and they are there to lean on in times of happiness and in times of need but don’t let them determine your future. Be nice to your sister, you only get one and you will miss her a lot when you go off to college. Cherish every moment spent with your family as the time will pass way too quickly. You will grow up to be a strong, compassionate, and outgoing woman. Never be afraid to speak up and say how you feel, bottling up your emotions will cause you to get in your head and you don’t want that. Keep being the strong-willed, compassionate, outgoing soul that you are. Good luck!!

Dear Maddie,

Life will seem difficult. You will want to give up, cry, scream, and yell more than you can imagine. That’s okay. Allow yourself to feel those emotions. Bottling them up will do no good. Because life is difficult. It always will be. You just have to learn to always be ready and willing to pick yourself back up, to keep going.

You will go through things that you think no one else is going through, that everyone else has it so easy. You are simply wrong. People, like you did, will try to make it seem like they are handling what life throws at them so easily, but everyone struggles. Everyone needs a little push now and then.

Life is so much easier when you have love in your heart and kindness in your mind. Do your best to spread love and kindness. Life is hard, but it can be so freeing and beautiful.

Dear 12-year-old me,

There are many, many things that I would love to say to you.
However, I’m going to keep it simple and straight to the point. The most
important thing I want you to remember is to just be yourself. I know you’ve heard
this a thousand times before, but seriously. Things are going to go a lot
easier for you if you don’t worry about what other people think!

I know growing up seems really scary right now. I also know that
12 is a pretty terrible age. You feel like you’re too old for “little kid”
stuff, but none of the older kids will take you seriously. It’s kind of the worst.
But you’ll get through it! Enjoy being 12 before all that adult stuff catches
up with you.

The future is gonna be better than you thought it would be.
Yes, there will be rough patches, but you’ll always come out stronger in the
end. Don’t worry about trying to get everything right, whether it be school or
relationships or work. Life is a journey, you don’t need to know everything at
the beginning. So don’t worry about always getting perfect grades on everything
and don’t feel like you always need to be the smartest.

Through the years, a lot of stuff is going to happen. You’re going to lose some friends, but you’ll also make some really great ones! Things aren’t going to go the way you are planning right now, but that’s okay. There’s fun in the surprises! So don’t take things too seriously, and hold the people you love close. Make the most of each moment and enjoy being 12 while it lasts!

Love, Kendall

This letter was a response to the “A Letter To You As A Child” assignment. This was an interesting assignment to do, since it made me reflect a lot on my years growing up. I picked 12 specifically because that was a time in my life when I was very unsure about a lot of things. I decided to write a quick letter of encouragement, because that is something my 12-year-old self would have really appreciated. This assignment made me miss the carefree days when I was twelve, but it also made me really appreciate where I am in my life right now.

Hey there!!

Wow you are 14 and a freshman in high school! Congrats! I know middle school was tough. You need to stop thinking it was hard because of you. Let me tell you, it is hard for everyone!!!

You had an interesting friend group during 7th and 8th grade. You stayed friends with them because you wanted to be part of the “in crowd”. Trust me those popular girls are nothing but trouble. Be friends with people who you genuinely like and want to be around.

ALSO I know you love soccer. I know you don’t plan on playing it professionally, so I’d suggest not to pursue it in high school. All thats gonna happen is you are going to get hurt and break your ankle…..or something…..*cough cough* did that at the first game. Consider something like theater! Put yourself out there!

Last thing, LOVE YOURSELF. Stopping caring about what you want to look like and start loving what you do look like. Thats all I have to say!!!

Sincerely,

Alexis

Dear High School Me,

I know life right now is kind of rough. I know it’s not going how you would like it to go and that you aren’t super happy. I am here to tell you that it will get better. I know you have been hearing this a lot, and you don’t necessarily believe it, but you can trust me, I am future 20-year old you. I know that it gets better. Going to college will be one of the best times of your life. Just in your first semester, you will meet amazing people and have amazing experiences that you could not have imagined.

I know you are struggling with the college decision right now, but know that you will end up in the right place. You will end up in a place where you are supported, acknowledged, and challenged in a good way. You will find new things that you love to do. You will find your place on campus. You will find a job that you love. I am also here to tell you that you will have better luck with roommates than anyone you know. You will win the roommate lottery more than once! No worries there.

You will find great mentors, even if most aren’t your professors. You won’t necessarily love class, but you’ve never loved school, and it is such a small portion of the overall college experience. You will find amazing friends that love you for who you are. Not to say that everything will be perfect. There will be problems along the way, but you will be equipped to handle them.

You will find out more about yourself in college and through all the experiences it will bring to you. You will get to do everything you want to do in college. I know you don’t really know what you want to do now, but that’s okay, you will figure it out. You will change your mind. You will get turned down for things you want, but you will also get picked for things you would have never thought would work out.

I know you’re also worried about your job prospects, but know that you will have great professional experiences in college. Also, know that you will have a job at the beginning of your senior year that you are excited about. Trust that things will get better. Life continues to have ups and downs, but that’s part of what makes it exciting. Know that college is amazing, but also know that it is just the beginning of the life you are creating for yourself. Near the end of college, you are happy about yourself, who you are surrounded by, and where you are going.

Love,

Your Future Self

Dear Daniel,

Start preparing. Drop whatever you are doing right now and hoard food. The undead spare no one. The outbreak occurs in California so if you can, get a plane ticket to a different continent. While this will not stop the inevitable, it will delay it. My number one advice to you is to take care of yourself because you never know who you are going to lose in the future. I hope you do a better job preparing than I did. I must go now, it is nighttime and I cannot keep the lights on too long for I will draw too much attention to my location.

Best of Luck,

Dan

This week’s assignments are 8+ stars worth of writing assignments. Here’s what I picked:

A Letter To You As A Child (2 1/2 stars)- This is a letter to me at 16 years old. Take advantage of high school. Take advantage of having awesome teachers and friends and mentors around you. Don’t be afraid to ask and be creative, go out of your way to accomplish your goals and or to help your friends. Work harder than everyone around you, it’ll only help you in your future. Don’t give up volleyball and basketball, you’ll miss playing them. Don’t tear yourself apart over failures and criticism. Begin to thicken your skin, take all the criticism you can, then talk through them and learn from them. Don’t punch the dugout just because you don’t feel good enough. Your time and place will come to shine. Take more risks, go out of your way to be bold and brave in your conversations and relationships. Take any help and advice you can get, don’t ever become too arrogant to think otherwise. Soak up time with your parents and don’t argue over little details so much. They’re not important, quality time with parents is. Listen to as much music you can and watch as many classic movies with friends you can. Learn to appreciate time with people more and how to make the most of that time. Figure out a way to remember the good times. Take some more pictures, no matter how annoying it may be in the moment, memories are precious. Take pictures with friends and loved ones. Learn to forgive and love again. Grow in your faith and take it seriously. Don’t make the same mistakes I did, you’re so much stronger than that. Be the best version of yourself you can be, every single day.

Dream It… Write It! (2 1/2 stars)- One time I dreamed that I was spending the night with a friend. Before going to bed, we checked the door to make sure that it was locked. During the dream, I woke up to an intruder breaking into our apartment. My friend who was sleeping on the couch, suddenly got up and did a huge kick flip over the head of the intruder, and was able to hit him in the back of the head with a baseball bat, like a whack-a-mole. Meanwhile, I was fighting off hordes of ninjas who were pouring in through the windows, each wanting a piece of me and my friend. After we had vanquished all of the bad guys, we were left with one final task: defeat the Elder Dragon. We had to accomplish this by lobbing fire extinguishers at him from our roof and then shooting them with flaming arrows, causing them to explode. Pretty effective right?

Changing Fortunes (3 stars)- “It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man’s life” This fortune is an interesting one. As a spy, much interpretation is required to decipher messages and clues. This clue was part of a mission to track down an international drug lord and bring him in for questioning. Taking his own knowledge and understanding into account, he quickly came up with the conclusion that the only way he would be able to come into contact with the drug lord. He eventually developed the idea to manufacture a great amount of fake cocaine and attempt to sell it for cheap to the drug lord. This ended up getting the spy a meeting with the drug lord, but what he did not expect was that while he thought he was setting up the drug lord for capture, the spy’s partners double crossed him. The drug lord ended up selling off information that he tortured out of the spy… Leading the fortune to still be true. The drug lord, influenced by fortune, outplayed the spy’s attempted wisdom.