Things School Didn’t Teach Me

Dear 12-year-old Kaitlyn,

The road ahead is an interesting one. You are equipped with a solid foundation and people who love you, but you’ll soon learn lessons that only life itself will be able to teach you. You will experience joy and heartbreak, become a champion and a failure, laugh and cry (all at the same time), and you’ll live through days you wish would never end as well as ones you wish would only end.

Yes, the road ahead is an interesting one. You are going to make friends, good ones and bad ones, but you, Kaitlyn, are smart and you know wrong from right. You’ve been taught well and you’ve had a solid example of what a woman should be, and you are going to make it through.

So Kaitlyn, keep your head up. The journey is exciting and encouraging and if you’ll just remember a few important “rules of life” you should be just fine…

 

Don’t be afraid to say no. On an equally important note, don’t be afraid to say yes either.

Honesty man. In everything you do. Be honest.

Love the things you love, not what someone else wants you to love.

People will change, you will change. Through all the change, don’t compromise who you are or what you stand for. The people who are meant to stay with you will change with you and the ones who don’t, you can let go of. Don’t be afraid to let go.

Don’t overanalyze. Embrace your intense emotions. Feel them. Be thankful for the ways they define you and bless you and move on.

Be grateful. I mean seriously. Be grateful every.single.day.

Spend time alone to reconnect and rejuvenate. You need that time alone.

Water balance dude. Water balance.

And when life really sucks, sing. Shoot, just sing all the freaking time. You love that shit.

 

Carry on my friend. You’ve got this.

I love you.

Love,

27-year-old Kaitlyn