I hope you're still writing, as long as you're enjoying it. I hope your books do well enough and you write good enough books that you keep being published. I hope people are still enjoying what you write. It doesn't matter if it's ten people or ten million, you're affecting somebody. I hope getting bad reviews still doesn't feel like having your heart ripped from your chest.
I hope, if you're not writing, that whatever you are doing is making you happy. That you're making a difference. I hope that the world you live in is a peaceful one. I hope that there's more equality. I hope that there's less people starving and dying too young. I hope there's less people living in fear and jumping off buildings. I hope that people are nicer. I hope that you are kind, and everyone is kind to you. I kind of hope you live in a utopia, but I know that's unrealistic.
I hope that if this isn't the case, that you're still hopeful. That you're not cynical and jaded. That you fight for the things you believe in. I hope that you still have faith in the world and in people around you. I hope you've become comfortable in your skin, and found people who you are comfortable with. I hope that you always, always remember that love is more important than money. Always. I hope you're happy and healthy, and I hope the people you love are happy and healthy.
I hope you don't look back on your teenage years and feel sad they're gone. I hope you enjoy the present. I hope you cringe at the person you were at sixteen, at the funny way you dressed and your frizzy hair and your obsession with your skin, but I hope you're proud of the person you were. I hope you are kind and generous and filled with love. I hope you've stopped thinking about everything so intensely, but maybe that's such an integral part of who you are that you'll forever be extraordinarily full of thought. I hope you are not lonely. I hope you are happy. I hope you love people and are loved. I hope you always remember that you are worthy of love.
Love,
16-Year-Old Steph
What would you say in a letter to your future self?
