Dear Diary...
Sorry for my [unintended] hiatus from this blog. Unfortunately, life the flu got in my way and majorly knocked me down. But I am happy to be back and feeling much, much better.
While I was home sick from work (for three days... ugh), I decided to read through some old journals. I've been keeping them on & off for many years but haven't taken the time to read themin a while ever... so, while I was home, that's exactly what I did. I had about 6 separate journals from different times, though, so I decided to tear out the pages from each unfinished book and bind them together in chronological order so that I'd have one (more complete) journal. I haven't done the actual binding yet, but the pages are torn out and are stacked in the correct order.
So, what did I learn about my (past) self? In a nutshell, my journal entries look like this:
2004: "I love my boyfriend. I love high school. Senior year is the best. Friends are great, but sometimes they can be mean (on AIM, of course). I hate Susan* because she's not nice."
*Fake name... obviously.
2006: College is fun. I have a lot of good friends even though they bug me sometimes. I love my new boyfriend.
2007-2008: I still love my (not so new) boyfriend. Even if I don't like X, Y, and Z about him, I wonder if I should marry him someday. Also, what should I do with the rest of my life??
In retrospect, here's what I would like to say now the person that I was then:
Dear 2004 me,
Your boyfriend is gay... you just don't know it yet. So don't get too attached. He is also your first love, which makes it a bit more complicated, but you will always have happy memories of your relationship with him.
Yes, high school is amazing, but trust me when I say that you have many more amazing experiences yet to come.
You won't see Susan after high school, but there will always be people who are mean to you. You will begin to grow a backbone eventually, but it can't hurt to start now.
Do the things you enjoy (music, theatre, friends, family) but spend more time writing about the things that you will actually care about in 8 years. Like your relationship with your grandma, who won't be around a whole lot longer. Those are the memories that you'll want to be revisiting when you read these entries in the future.
Dear 2006 me,
Yes, college is fun. But friends will annoy you your whole life so you will have to learn to deal.
Dear 2007-2008 me,
Yes, you will marry him. You found quite the catch, didn't you? So don't pick at the fairly meaningless things that you don't like about him... in time, you will realize that, in the grand scheme of life, they really don't matter much.
As for your career choice, you will (ironically) become a career counselor who helps other people figure out what they want to do with their lives. You will be good at it, and you will love it.
I wonder what future me will think when she reads all of the entries that I am making now!
While I was home sick from work (for three days... ugh), I decided to read through some old journals. I've been keeping them on & off for many years but haven't taken the time to read them
So, what did I learn about my (past) self? In a nutshell, my journal entries look like this:
2004: "I love my boyfriend. I love high school. Senior year is the best. Friends are great, but sometimes they can be mean (on AIM, of course). I hate Susan* because she's not nice."
*Fake name... obviously.
2006: College is fun. I have a lot of good friends even though they bug me sometimes. I love my new boyfriend.
2007-2008: I still love my (not so new) boyfriend. Even if I don't like X, Y, and Z about him, I wonder if I should marry him someday. Also, what should I do with the rest of my life??
In retrospect, here's what I would like to say now the person that I was then:
Dear 2004 me,
Your boyfriend is gay... you just don't know it yet. So don't get too attached. He is also your first love, which makes it a bit more complicated, but you will always have happy memories of your relationship with him.
Yes, high school is amazing, but trust me when I say that you have many more amazing experiences yet to come.
You won't see Susan after high school, but there will always be people who are mean to you. You will begin to grow a backbone eventually, but it can't hurt to start now.
Do the things you enjoy (music, theatre, friends, family) but spend more time writing about the things that you will actually care about in 8 years. Like your relationship with your grandma, who won't be around a whole lot longer. Those are the memories that you'll want to be revisiting when you read these entries in the future.
Dear 2006 me,
Yes, college is fun. But friends will annoy you your whole life so you will have to learn to deal.
Dear 2007-2008 me,
Yes, you will marry him. You found quite the catch, didn't you? So don't pick at the fairly meaningless things that you don't like about him... in time, you will realize that, in the grand scheme of life, they really don't matter much.
As for your career choice, you will (ironically) become a career counselor who helps other people figure out what they want to do with their lives. You will be good at it, and you will love it.
I wonder what future me will think when she reads all of the entries that I am making now!
This was an amazing post...I loved it and am so glad you're able to look back and see how very far you've come. I love you and am EXTREMELY proud of you!
ReplyDelete