A Letter to My 13-year old Self

Sharvari Bendre
TYBCOM-D

Dear 13 year old me,

Hey! This is a 19 year old you. How are you, dear? I know you must be sitting in the school. Probably alone and sad. I know you must be bored in the lectures. But don’t talk too much with your partner. Your teacher is going to change your place. Or did she change it already?

Well I am fine. Yes you heard right. Your future is going to be bright. I know this letter is your only hope. So don’t give up. I am happier than ever. I know you got mood swings. I know you cry when no one's watching. I know you decided to give up on everything and probably I am the only one that knows. That would feel sad. But no! That’s actually great. No one knows that you are weak. You are going to face many challenges and tensions are on your way. But please don’t give up.

Oh! So now you think everything would be fine at my age? No! Life is still messed up. People still underestimate you. You still feel lonely even when you are with a bunch of people. You still struggle to make people proud. You still feel sad and  depressed. Everything is still the same. Nothing’s changed except you!

You became stronger! Emotionally, Mentally, Physically! You stopped caring for people who underestimated you. You started believing alone is power. The only people you struggle to make proud is you. Yes, you are sad and depressed but now you don’t blame yourself for that. You take your stand now and as I mentioned you became physically strong! So now even if you get into physical fight with anyone, you have guts to handle them as well and this power is not because you exercise because lol! You don’t. This power that made you stronger than ever didn’t come to you. It was there in you. You’ll learn this the long way champ. But you will, one day! And that day, you would be happy, smiling even in the pain.

The people you think you need right now are not at all important. The only person you need is you! The people you rely on are not at all reliable. I know you are making promises with your school friends to always be together. Even after school ends! But now you don’t have many friends. You got a few good friends and that’s enough. You know even they won’t be there after college. But now you aren’t afraid of being on your own.

I would have advised you to not get attached to people. But instead I would say to get attached and get hurt. Because that’s life. My only advice is- ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’

So head up girl. Cherish your life. Make every moment count and please study for you because people only care for the marks but marks don’t matter. You are not recognized for how much percentage you got. You are recognized for how much smartness you have and you have plenty to survive. The people who are underestimating you and the people who are bullying you right now are very very far from you. Most of them haven’t even reached your level. So don’t you worry at all.

Last but not the least! Your happiness is entirely depended on you. No one makes you happy or sad. It is you who choose to be happy or sad. It is you who decide and fix things. It is you who knows everything at it’s best. I know it’s a lot of you in this letter. But that’s life. It’s always about you and how you see things and how you make things happen. Whatever is bothering you right now are the things which your future you don’t even remember. So, you are going to figure out just like you always have

I know no one is believing in you right now. Even you don’t believe in yourself. But I believe in you and I am thankful to you for making me who I am today. I really feel proud of you because I know you won’t give up.

Yours loving,
Future you.