04.27.24
An open letter to the youth,
As you enter the phase of challenges in your youth, may you not let all the hardships steal away your glowing mirth. Enjoy your journey to life's discoveries, and bloom where your heart meets its first heartbreak.
Life is a constant series of highs and lows. You will not only experience its radiance and blinding splendor but its failures and darkness, too.
There will be times when your growing courage will be tested inside your home, in your school, by your parents, by your teachers, by your circle of friends, or worse, by yourself.
You will encounter many questions as you dive deeper into a meaningful travel to understanding the world. You will come to hate yourself at some point or despise the environment you grow up with.
Insecurities and comparison can't be helped at times as everyone is made out of different uniqueness. But you will care more about the things you don't have as impatience of entering adulthood strikes your head.
You will often think you are not good enough. You will find yourself trying harder but get disappointed in the end. In your quest to find your purpose and identity, some blows carry criticisms from society.
I tell you it's going to be painful and suffocating. This world is fairly unkind to everyone, sweetheart. The moment you will see the cracks of truth seeping through your walls, you will know that you are born in a cruel, loathing, hostile reality.
But grow your flowers where they crushed you in pieces. Water your garden where they refused to quench your thirst. Plant your roots where they cut your branches. Climb in ladders where they deny your first step.
It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be worth it. Don't listen to your thoughts, telling you to give up and surrender. But hear your faintest whisper of wanting to live your life to the fullest, seizing the days and chasing your dreams. Rake through your childhood memories and retake the joy of your innocence.
Start over again, if you must.
You still have the favor of time that elder people wish to have in their retirement age. You may not have the luxury of money and things yet but you still have the days of youth you can never live again. Be kind to yourself, enough to pen the good times inside a diary. Make your youth a memory of bliss you can always turn to and say, "I had a good time indeed."
—georginariver, the youth i never had
