A letter from Nov 22, 2024

Dear FutureMe, This is 18 year old you. I want to be witty and cool to impress you. Just like I’ve always wanted to impress the younger versions of us. There seems to be a trend there. I dropped out of university, I’m sure you remember. And I hope you have forgiven yourself for that. We were our first “no” believe it or not. I’m sure by now you know that it just doesn’t make any sense what I did. I hope you are now gentle with yourself, and now leading on life with faith and self-assuredness. I hope you learn to take criticism lightly and take it as an opportunity to learn and not berate yourself. It’s hard when the meanest person we know is often ourselves. Take it as a lesson to take care of yourself beyond all means, and ask yourself what you truly want out of life. We left a piece of ourself in Canada, amongst our loved ones and it still stings I presume. But it is a reminder that we have an impact on the people around us and that we are loved regardless. Victoria told us that we are still us no matter what we do. There are people who care about us, who look up to us when we couldn’t. It’s time you step up and do us all proud. You are hard-working, disciplined, kind, beautiful, and brilliant. Isn’t it wonderful that it is innate? But it takes guts and consistency to show that to the world. How lucky are we to have a shot at life, to be fortunate to make mistakes, to have an opportunity to learn. We’ve achieved a lot and that’s not only the academics part. We are brave and strong, we shouldn’t be scared of our own potential and strength. We should lead it with compassion. I hope you can reflect on what you have accomplished over the years. Time management! There is no point in wallowing if it doesn’t serve you any good. There is no point in comparing yourself to others either, we have never truly been similar to other people either! Besides, you know how we feel about meritocracy. Stay true to yourself, be kind to yourself. Everything is easier said than done right? You can do hard things. I love you and I’m learning to love you in a way I’ve never done before. You know that. Show up for yourself, be open to others, don’t shut people out, don’t be shy - I’ve shown you the amazing people we’ve attracted among the years for just simply being ourselves. We are not alone. And I want to remind you good things take time. Honor your feelings. There’s a life ahead of you, there is so much more to life than school. I’m journaling today, I’m grieving a part of myself but I’m doing something we love. I want to hug younger us. She did so well, there was no need to be harsh on ourselves. And you shouldn’t either. Love (unconditionally), Diva