Dear freshman Sophia,

The next four years of your life will pass by faster than you can imagine. Instead of doing and re-doing your four-year plan, take a breath and enjoy the present.

I know that it’s cliché, advice you’ve heard time and time again, but if there’s a chance that hearing it from me—from you—will be the time it finally sinks in, it’s worth another shot:

• Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to, but not the way you’ve planned it. 
• Look into study abroad programs now—the free ones—and start applying as soon as possible.

And that’s all the advice I have for you. I know you may be disappointed, I know you would prefer a step-by-step manual on how to live your life, but I’ll just leave it at that. I’ll let you make the same mistakes I’ve made and learn from them just the same.

You have four years of high school ahead of you, full of growth and good times. So in the meantime, before you meet me, before you become the version of yourself we are now, make sure to stop once in a while and smell the roses, so to speak. Go to the movies on weeknights, long drives at midnight, and know that everything is going to be okay—another cliché, I know.

Love,

Senior Sophia