Dear 17 Year Old Me

Posted by In Her Own Write on November 03, 2020 · 3 mins read

Hi. I am contacting you from the past. This is Veronica, on the very last day of being 16. Now I am not going to pretend that I don't have a physics test coming up and that we are all stressed about the election. The results would probably be up by the time this thing is posted, but until then, let's just forget about that for a second.

Everyone makes bad decisions. I have chosen to cry over the election, physics, DSE, college applications, academic/ social life burnout, arguments with parents over politics and overduing on library books while listening to rhapsody in blue. When you look back over your senior year, you're probably thinking that it went pretty miserably. Fact is, though it could be sucky at times, I am keeping the faith that you are doing well. And that's all that matters. Also the penguins, I hope they are doing well too.

The first part of my 16th year on Earth is quite splendid, I can't complain. The initial part of "accepting there's a quarantine" was fine too. I'm sure you can tell from all those Instagram Stories. The weird part hits when I started to get post-quarantine anxiety. It was pretty bad. Then it went worse, around May and June. Summer was fine for the most part, August slipped away into a moment in time. You did your first summer job virtually, being the Instructor Assistant, so that's pretty sweet. You also discovered X Japan around the end of August. 29th, to be exact. Before, you were just listening to Bob Dylan and Dua Lipa depressingly.

Don't worry about me, worry about yourself. College Apps are really stressful, so wherever you're going for college, no matter community or public or private, please be grateful for the people that helped you along the way. Do it for me. I bet uni life in a whole diff country is awesome though, if it ain't, blame it on me for setting up unrealistic expectations. I'm sure it's cooler than… nevermind. Cool enough. I hope you find Computer Science very fun, and that you are minoring in English/ Film. I hope you continue to surprise yourself with your excellent taste of film and music. I hope you get more vinyls. Try to survive.

I hope you have come to terms with feelings. I was struggling with picking between ENTP and ENFP, but at one point I just thought that I could be both. I knew at one point that FEELINGS are what makes us human. Memories doesn't make us human, not necessary, but the idea that you can comprehend feelings. That's what Blade Runner told me.

I hope you don't regret the decisions I made for you. See you soon.