Dear freshman Charlise, 

I’ll be honest, I don’t have much to say to you because I already know that if I were to try to give you advice about your next four years, you wouldn’t listen. You think that you have it all under control and that you don’t need help from anyone — not even your future self. 

I know that you just received your first “B” in a class and are blowing it out of proportion. You let your grades define you, and I hate to say you don’t really grow out of that until your senior year. You quietly struggle with your mental health because you don’t really understand what you’re going through. Eventually, you learn to allow yourself to relax, lean on others, and not be consumed by your academics. 

You are also worried about making new friends and losing your current ones. I’m grateful to say that you do have (most of) the same friends you had in middle school and meet many new people who help bring you out of your self-deprecating, over-scrutinizing shell and make you feel loved. 

High school doesn’t end up exactly how you’ve been dreaming of it. However, if I want you to take away one thing from this letter, it’s to remember that no matter how sure of yourself or how confused you are, everything happens for a reason and you do indeed make it to the other side. It’s cliché, I know, but you quickly learn that life is often filled with clichés. 

With all my love,

Still not sure of herself and 4 years older Charlise