A letter from Sep 11, 2023

Dear Stef, Please listen to Idea 22 (Sped Up) by Gilbran Alcocer whilst reading this, it's what I am listening to as I type this so I feel like it would be nice to go full-circle after so many years. I hope you are proud of how far you've come, I hope you are proud of the person you have become. Right now it's 2023 and you've been in what seems to be your dream job for about 3 months now - everything seems so perfect but at times you are harsh on yourself, you fear you might be behind and need to start working harder when in reality you are the youngest in the company. You feel like you are behind when in reality you are so young, you are just surrounded by people who are older than you and you've always had the bad habit of comparing yourself to others. You feel like you are behind yet there are so many things you want to do and it feels like there are not enough hours in the day but I recently heard something that changed my perspective on life. You feel like your to-do list is endless with so many movies to watch, places to visit, books to read and coffee shops to try out but that's your thrist to live. Yes, you might have plenty of books waiting to be read and you bought yet another. Yes, you might have so many movies to watch but you don't have time because you have to edit your next YouTube video. Yes, you might have promised yourself not to spend so much money anymore yet here you are at another coffee shop again looking out the window at the red buses and people holding hands down the road. It's not procrastinating - it's living. And I am so proud that we have so much to look forward to. I am so proud that we norture interest in so many things and that we have such a desire to live life to its fullest. I am so proud that we romanticise life like it's a movie - dancing in the kitchen whilst making your favourite salad, going out in the city on weekends to try out a new coffee shop, sitting on the couch at 19:46 typing a letter to your future self whilst listening to piano music. I am so proud that at 21 we have already reached such milestones, all by ourselves. So please, be proud of yourself like I am proud of you. Love yourself for who you are as much as I do. Love, Stef