OPEN OPEN OPEN: FROM YOU'RE PAST SELF

Dear FutureMe, It's April 13, 2015 today. I just got done writing a letter to myself on my 18th birthday. I hope you took that advice, because you're turning twenty five today! I don't know if you're still in college, but try to remember all the advice you're 14 year old self gave you when you were 18. It's pretty **** good advice. I hope you still feel good as far as your health goes. It's amazing what that medicine can do. Who knows, maybe by now they have a cure for POTS. I don't know what's happening right now in your life. Maybe you're married. Maybe you have a baby, or a baby on the way. You may be young, but for as long as I can remember you've wanted to be a mom, so don't be scared, you'll be the best mother that kid could ask for (and the kid will be pretty good looking too). Fourteen might be young, but I'm a smart girl still and I know you better than anybody else, so I'm gonna give you some more advice. You're probably secretly feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders - you need advice, but you're too afraid to ask for it...but good thing I'm here to give you some. Here goes.... Don't grow up too fast. Right now, two months before my fifteenth birthday, I already feel a little too grown up. You're still young, so be dumb! Even if you're already a mother or a wife, that doesn't mean you can't live a little. I know you're worried about finishing college, or maybe you just graduated and you're worried about student loans. Maybe you're nine months pregnant without a baby daddy. It doesn't matter. Stop worrying. Stop being so **** grown-up. Take a deep breath and call a friend. Even if you think you don't have any, you do. Go have a drink, whether it be a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri or an ice cold beer. Let the dishes pile up in the sink. The laundry can wait a couple more days. Relax. Call your family. Right now. Stop reading and do it. Call your mom. Call your dad. Call your brother. Call your sister. Ask how their doing. Tell them you're ok. Talk with them. Tell them you love them. Then do it again tomorrow and the next day. Friends may come and go, but they never will. Don't lose yourself. I don't care how hard or how good your life is right now. Don't forget who you are, where you come from. Don't let your big heart grow cold. Just don't forget who you are...that's the best way to hit rock bottom. Remember being a kid. Remember dancing around your room to blasting music. Remember cuddling under the blanket with your best friend (Alexis Rachas) watching scary movies. Remember how happy you were freshmen year of high school. Remember how sick you were before you were diagnosed. Remember every detail of your childhood, and don't ever forget them. Don't be afraid of change. You can't escape it anyways. Let things change, because sometimes change is good. Believe it or not, things change without you even noticing, like you're fashion sense or music taste. Then other times, big things change like growing up and maturing. Don't lose sight of your dreams. Repeat after me: I want to be a vet. I want to help people help their pets. I want to change lives. I want to be something. But whatever you do, make sure you remember the little things, because they are most important. You might be struggling right now or maybe you're happier than you've ever been. Either way, remember...this is life, and you're living it. Love, You're very wise 14 year old self