It may be hard to remember what you were like as a seventeen-year-old girl, and you may have subconsciously or consciously erased embarrassing details at your discretion. In case your selective memory has been imposed upon you once more, I have provided a refresher course to remind you of how misguided but benign you were and how courageous and content you can be.
An all encompassing characteristic of your childhood lies in the heart of confusion. A euphemism for it would be that you welcomed, if not embraced, trying different versions of yourself. As Ralph Ellison wrote in Invisible Man, “I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I could answer.” From changing your music style to the degree of …show more content…
I hope one day you find the courage that the younger you would stand in awe to; I hope you find the self-assurance that only stems from an authentic foundation. You hid, buried, and suppressed yourself for so long that when you finally cracked a small piece in your shell it felt like a resurrection for the undead. Freshman year, you sat alone: alone in its simplest form. Senior year, you were voted wittiest by your peers. Chase that feeling, not the external validation that comes from being acknowledged. I hope your fears become your allies, and I hope your prayers stop entailing a magical solution that would only take place in Harry Potter. You were scared of failure, friendships, relationships, complacency, and loneliness. I hope you’re still terrified of your fears and that you face them again, again, and again until the sting hurts less and less, but I hope you remember the process. The grueling, exponentially annoying process will mean more to you than a Band-Aid fix that covered, not healed, the wound. Sophomore year, you were elected as the Vice President of your high school, and like any rational person, you tried to give away the title because another person deserved it more- yet another excuse for why you didn’t deserve what you wanted; simply, you believed you weren’t enough. You lacked the courage to accept who you are and the belief in yourself to pursue it: a deficit larger than our national debt. Whatever it is God has chosen for you to be, be brave: use your fears as the driving factor to bring God glory. Be courageous not for your own benefit but so people can see what God has done through you and for
An all encompassing characteristic of your childhood lies in the heart of confusion. A euphemism for it would be that you welcomed, if not embraced, trying different versions of yourself. As Ralph Ellison wrote in Invisible Man, “I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I could answer.” From changing your music style to the degree of …show more content…
I hope one day you find the courage that the younger you would stand in awe to; I hope you find the self-assurance that only stems from an authentic foundation. You hid, buried, and suppressed yourself for so long that when you finally cracked a small piece in your shell it felt like a resurrection for the undead. Freshman year, you sat alone: alone in its simplest form. Senior year, you were voted wittiest by your peers. Chase that feeling, not the external validation that comes from being acknowledged. I hope your fears become your allies, and I hope your prayers stop entailing a magical solution that would only take place in Harry Potter. You were scared of failure, friendships, relationships, complacency, and loneliness. I hope you’re still terrified of your fears and that you face them again, again, and again until the sting hurts less and less, but I hope you remember the process. The grueling, exponentially annoying process will mean more to you than a Band-Aid fix that covered, not healed, the wound. Sophomore year, you were elected as the Vice President of your high school, and like any rational person, you tried to give away the title because another person deserved it more- yet another excuse for why you didn’t deserve what you wanted; simply, you believed you weren’t enough. You lacked the courage to accept who you are and the belief in yourself to pursue it: a deficit larger than our national debt. Whatever it is God has chosen for you to be, be brave: use your fears as the driving factor to bring God glory. Be courageous not for your own benefit but so people can see what God has done through you and for