A Letter to My 13-year old Self

Vishakha Gawde
SYBCOM-B

Right now you'll probably think you've got things messed up because of so many responsibilities at this age but I have gone through a lot of experiences in the past 5 years and realizing that not everyone is going to like you was a late – but – welcome player in that game.

Remembering the 13 year old me was like “Those were the times when the only thing we have to do is playing with no tension, no responsibilities, no pressure of career, no stress, no anxiety & many more such things.” I know that school is also a difficult path of life & I can tell you that it doesn’t really get any easier. When I remember those times of my school years , I wish I could just give myself a hug and reassure myself that at my eighteen’s nothing is Going to be the same as I used to think at that time. Also, college life will not be the best years of my life. Actually, college will be a bit difficult. The best memories you made are the ones you made when you were skipping classes.

What more could I say to myself at 13 that you will get everything you ever wanted. You will get good exam results, travel, go to a prestigious college and that college life is going to ruin because of the pandemic and you will find decent people everywhere you go. You may also face people with rude behavior to you for no reason but you have to behave always kind to them. Be kind to people for a reason but you still need a reason so listen. The act of being kind to others is capable of increasing your own personality towards happiness.

Being a teenager you will always have some kind of fear not only being a teenager but also when you come closer to your adulthood you will suffer from different kinds of fears and pressures. You are somehow expected to figure out who you are, also when you grow older you are going to face hormonal changes, academic pressure and many more new experiences. It is easy for me now because I have faced and experienced all these things. Sometimes I wish that if someone could have already told me such things about my future then it would be so easy to live my life in the present but at last this can only remain a wish which can never become true. I would like to share an incident that I have faced when I was in my first standard. At that time in school I just made a mistake in solving a math sum and that mistake when I came to know that the teacher she beat me very hard at that time I felt so helpless and shameful but who is going to remember that thing now. Also, as time passed, maths became one of my favorite subjects. So from this incident I came to understand that in the past if you have come across such fearful things which left you feeling shameful so don’t think more about that thing because time passes and time heals everything and also as of now those such things don't even matter.

I would like to tell some more things to my 13 years old self but I don’t really want you to read this yet because you are not yet ready to hear it. There are some lists of things you will learn when you come out of your teens. Stop making things hard for yourself seriously.  Take up some kind of sport. I can’t tell you what happens after university, because I’m yet to find out for myself. I promise it will be good though. Yes, you will be around 21 and still won’t know what you want to be when you grow up. But yeah you will definitely become what you have chosen I mean your professional course okay. Yeah you are scholar enough I mean we are scholar enough to crack a course and to achieve a professional degree. Also I would like to tell you something about people who you will choose to become your friends and will have an important part in your life. Your friends will be integral in shaping the person you become, so be aware of that when choosing who to surround yourself with. I could tell you to stay away from certain people now, but the role they play in your life will actually be very important, so go ahead. Love them and laugh with them and devote yourself to them wholeheartedly and blindly. You will be hurt but you need to be. Pain exists so we can endure it and grow as a result. It’s going to be pretty hard sometimes, sorry. Things will change, a lot. Embrace the bad with the good. You might as well, because there’s nothing else you can do. Keep taking photographs and writing everything down in your diary. Some of the stuff that felt like it was going to make your head explode, you won’t even remember in a few years. The rest will seem hilarious, or poignant in its naivete and innocence.

Above all, you’ll be okay.

Oh, and Beyonce will rule the world.

Have a lovely day.