A letter from May 31st, 2019

Dear future self, Wow, you're 25 now. At this point, 25 seems millions of miles away in space and time. Let's walk through the years, shall we? Let's see...I'll be starting college this fall, the fall of 2019, as a Freshman. I'm scared and anxious and excited, and I'm currently 18. If everything goes right, I should be done with my BA by the time I'm 22 years old. Yes, a BA and not a BS. That's what I'm leaning towards right now because, even though I want to be a chem major, I don't want to work solely in the research field of chemistry (or put myself through the stress of a BS in chemistry). Therefore, I guess I'll just do a BA in chem, maybe a minor or two, and see where I go from there. Right now I'm standing on the edge, staring at the precipice that is college. All I have to do is take one more step and fall into all the possibilities that a college education brings. I hope you've taken advantage of everything college had to offer you: formally and informally. Here are a few of my hopes for how your college years played out: I hope you took advantage of office hours. I heard those are good for your grade and learning process. I hope you stopped being so afraid to date. To fall in love. To get hurt. When I think of dating now I can't help but freeze up and completely forget how to think for myself. I don't want that to be the case though. I want to be ok with putting myself out there and maybe even finding the one? Just don't get married in college, please! I hope you are still friends with Steph. I love her so much and I don't know if life would be as colorful without such an insightful, funny, and fun person near us. Hopefully, you guys still talk and meet up. However, that doesn't mean that I don't want us to have any other friends. I hope you were able to find amazing people during college who helped us along on our journey through this crazy thing called life. I hope you got a job during college. I hope you stopped putting everything on mom and dad to pay for. I need to become more independent and getting a job is a part of that. I hope you traveled, studied abroad, learned a new language, made international relations, found cute French guys or Greek guys or whatever else the world has to offer, and just had fun learning about a new culture. Also, for my sake, I hope you went back to Italy. I hope your mental health throughout college did not decline as much as when we were 12. I hope you worked through all these problems I've yet to work through, preferably with a therapist. I hope you made some stupid, fun decisions with minor, temporary consequences at the most. Ok, now onto the rest of your life: 22 to 25 years of age. It's been 3 years since you got your Bachelor's. Fun. Did you get a good job? Please tell me you did, because most of my hopes hinge on whether you got a good job. The following hopes could have already been done, but some are my hopes for you starting now (to remind you of what your past self wanted for your life). #1- Move to New York City. It doesn't matter why or when. Most likely, you've already lived in NYC for a bit but, if you haven't: GET ON IT. I have wanted to live in/around NYC for so long and it's sure to be quite the experience. #2- Going along with that last wish...go live in California. You know why. #3- I hope you got your own place. Whether it's a house, tiny house, or apartment, that doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's someplace you can call home. #4- Do something for our parents. Buy them some dinner, get them a vacation or go on a vacation with them, fly our family out to see them (or vice versa). Pay them back for all they've done for us. #5- Reach financial literacy, if you haven't already done so. It's a very important thing to acquire. #6- Stop being so dependent on your phone. Anyway, that's all I had to say. Love, your younger self