Hi 16 year old me. It’s 51 year old me.
I’m writing you to tell you not to give up.
I know things REALLY suck right now. You’re getting bullied as school. You don’t know where you want to go to college. Your best friend seems to hate you half the time. You feel like you are all alone and no one will ever understand you. You are 100% sure no boy will ever like you. You’ve contemplated ending it all a few times and even tried once.
I’m here to tell you it gets better. A lot better! Yes really!
By the time you graduate from high school you will discover that you CAN talk to strangers and you can make friends. You will start to get a little self confidence. You will even have a couple boyfriends!
In your twenties you will fall deeply in love and find an amazing friend group of fellow dorks/ nerds that allow you to feel comfortable being yourself for the first time. You will get married, graduate from college and get a really good job. You get diagnosed with anxiety and depression disorders and feel AMAZING for maybe the first time in your life once you get a treatment plan. There will be some struggles- not going to lie- but you come out the other side stronger than ever. You finally get to see Bon Jovi in concert! More than once!
In your thirties you finally pay off your student loans- yay! You also get married again, move to Iowa, and get hired by a great company with great coworkers who will become friends. You get to be an aunt too! You will love meeting your nephew. You pick up the clarinet again. You go to more Bon Jovi concerts.
In your forties you get to meet your niece. You finally upgrade to a decent car and wonder why that took you so long. You wind up in therapy again, but it’s so worth it. You make peace with a lot of mistakes you made when you were younger and appreciate the lessons you learned from them. You celebrate 10 years of marriage to your best friend. You go to more Bon Jovi concerts.
I don’t know yet what our fifties will look like, but if the past couple decades are any indication we are in for a lot of great things! And yes, we’ve already seen Bon Jovi once this decade too.
I wish I could hug you. I wish I could tell you all the things about you that are amazing and special that you don’t see right now. I wish I could show you how great things will be for your sooner than later. Just know that I love you and you are so much stronger than you think you are.
And fun fact- Jon Bon Jovi is just as hot now as he was then. In fact- I think he’s even hotter now! So you have lots to look forward to 🙂