A letter from Mar 29, 2024

Dear FutureMe, I know you are 25 today. I have no idea how this will reach you, but I hope it does. To be honest, I hope you have a loud birthday this year, the one that you celebrate with the people you have around you, which are your friends and your loved ones. Because the thing is, I have realized that lonely birthdays are kind of overrated. You have one life; why not celebrate it with the people you love? To celebrate how you are one year closer to *****. But you know what? You aren’t afraid anymore. You aren’t afraid of growing old because you realize all of the fear was caused by the unrealistic expectations people had of you, for whatever reasons, good or bad. But it isn’t your duty to fulfill those. You are your own person, and that is exactly why you were given a life: to be your own person, not what other people wanted you to become. Yes, you have potential, and yes, you have to make sure you reach that potential. But also, there is the other side of the coin where all you have to do is have fun and have these incredible experiences. They say you have 7 minutes before you die, so make sure you live these 70 years where every single second of those 7 minutes makes you feel every single sensation in your body, and every single cell in your body knows this is the best thing that has ever happened to them. So that when you die, you die knowing you do not want to come back because you have experienced everything that there is: pain, love, confusion, anger, greed, jealousy, disappointment, the hunger for power, the deafening madness for peace, the days where you feel like there is no meaning to life, and the days where you realize this moment is everything. There will be nothing bigger and better than this moment, and the days where the shadow of grief never leaves you, tragedy, betrayal, *****, birth, and then when you finally realize all of these feelings that you have to process make you who you are. These are the things that shape your personality. So live when you are 25, live when you are 47, and when you are 62 because you genuinely never know when ***** could come knocking on your door. And see, that is exactly what makes life beautiful: the fact that you never know when it could be your last. So live today like it is your last day and live like even if it is your last, you have no regrets. And even if **** hits the fan and things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, do not ever regret them. God, please do not ever regret your silly, stupid, what-was-I-thinking days. You will one day realize that it was your ego who thought the world revolved around you, to think stupidity is only your superpower, for everyone in this world has the same power. And don’t ever harness that power against you. Use it, be stupid, fall down the stairs, say you do not know things and don’t pretend to be interested in something you aren’t interested in just to impress another idiot on the street. If you find yourself inclined to feign, then let it be for virtues that truly matter—confidence, determination, ambition, bravery. These are the qualities worth any sacrifice. Happy Birthday, girl, you know I will have your back no matter what even if the gods turn against us which would never happen but you and I will make it to the end no matter what. Goes without saying no matter where you are and what you are doing as long as you are a good human being I will always be proud of you.