Tiny stars

You're already successful.

I've always been a very creative kid. After school I'd spend hours daydreaming about my future: lit by stage lights, calming like a writing-evening, but most of all, joyful making other people happy.

However my dream of living from my writing and acting, has slightly changed since then; when I started my theater classes I found myself overwhelmingly petrified in contradictory feelings. Little did my younger self know that acting would be as pleasing as she thought and every but as scary as she had imagined: despite drama teachers being indeed genuine and fun, they can also be strict and extremely straightforward when it comes to opinions, looking fresh and natural when you had to repeat the same three-minute scene for the last half an hour... I found it awkward and and terribly exhausting.

I really wanted to be the best at it, yet at the same time I had (and still have) a lot of insecurities. Insecurities that only came in handy to waste my time and start my journey with self-doubt along with the phrase "I can't do it. I will never be able to do so".

The same thing happened with the writing. My mother is a writer, and also one of the few who understands how much literature resonates within me. At first, I followed her advice: to write and getting reviewed by some of her fellow writers. And, what I did was...? Yes, write about my concerns, read it back and toss the sheet right in the bin. I felt embarraced and frustrated for not being able to mirror my emotions in the paper. Even when I tried my best, I didn't feel satisfied.

On the brighter side, I never surrended and persisted: I wasn't going to let my dreams fly away so easily. I know, it might be hard and sometimes even disappointing. It's alright. There's no such thing as a free meal. The price to pay is bigger than the reward. At the end of the day, I don't want to become nagging old lady, who didn't persuit her dreams while she could. That scares me more than my shyness and insecurities.

Let me remind you that you are very young and you have already made people happy. You are already successful and enough. I know you're scared but you've been brave enough to show your gifts and that is admirable. You are not perfect, in fact, no one is, but that doesn't have to stop you.

Dear me, feel every step of the way like the end of a play, just as the moment you write someting that makes you proud. You can do it, you will make it.