300 Writing Prompts in 30 Min Forum Prompt#9: Write a letter to yo..

You need to know a couple things, seeing as I can barely stand to recall you now. The most important thing being, you don't know as much as you think you do. I know you think you know everything about life and love and hurting, that it can be simplified into happily-ever-afters and thrilling, romantic pages. 

You're wrong, you're really wrong. Life is a lot of things that you don't know it to be yet. Life is tedious, life is exhausting, life is painful, life is feeling like things won't get better at all, but you've got to face them knowing that whether things get better and easier or not is entirely in your hands. 

Love is a lot of things you don't understand, either. It's selfless, it's unconditional. It's waiting, sometimes. It's working through things together, it's knowing every imperfect moment has its perfect counterpart. It's not all that you've read. Seriously, you've got to stop relying on books for all your knowledge of things you have to experience. 

Anxiety is a thing that you don't understand, either. You remember those times where you would sit down and close your eyes tight and try to not think at all? But you couldn't stop thinking? Yeah, that amplifies over the next few years. You're going to feel like you're a terrible, awful, undeserving person pretty often.

And you're going to have a boyfriend far too young, who teaches you about all of those things- love, life, anxiety- in ways that you'll prolong for too long. 

Also, please, please don't cry over your indecision. I promise you, those thoughts about the really sweet and funny person who got stuck as your math partner are not worth crying over. It's not as hopeless as you think.

Just let things happen as they happen, and I assure you, that math partner you once used to hate because he was so good at everything- he'll teach you new things about life, love, and anxiety too, but this time, it makes you stronger, and you may be able to recall the stories you read now, and laugh because it's so much better this time around. 

And maybe make a few more friends, while you're at it. 

That's really all I've got.

You, truly,

Maddie