Introduction

I hope you don’t mind this change of pace. Following the popularity of the ’10 year challenge’, I really wanted to express this. Most people seem to use the 10 year challenge to just share a few photos but I wanted to explore the topic a little further.

Dear 14-Year-Old Me

I wanted to write this as both a warning and a piece of inspiration. At 14, you don’t know as much as you think you do but your heart is in the right place. You fall in love as easily as leaves fall to the ground in autumn and give every part of yourself, regardless of what you get back. I know you’ve already spent countless nights crying over someone and I want to say now that he won’t make it to your future. He will become someone who hurts you in more ways than you can imagine then leaves without a trace and never looks back. The pain of it all will feel like your heart was ripped from your body and it will take years to love someone like you did him. But you will one day.

My advice now is to love yourself first. You have talent, talent that will lead you both to places you want to be and places you’ll spend years trying to leave behind. A talent that will still be there, even if people don’t like you for it. You’ll win awards and find opportunities to walk red carpets and sip champagne with leaders of industry. You’ll stand in front of a crowd as cameras flash and people recognise you for your work. It won’t be the work you’re thinking it’ll be but it’ll be something you created. Move on and away from those toxic people and experiences with the knowledge that one day, it’ll work out in some ways and what’s not meant to be, will end exactly how the universe intended.

Love will find you when you stop looking for it. You’ll go to what feels like hell and back in search of the perfect person. You’ll lose your personal values and even lose parts of yourself along the way but, when you stop looking, someone will find you. It will come unexpectedly and at a time where you feel as though you’ve totally given up. What I’m trying to say here is, not everything needs to be an uphill struggle, not everything needs to be hard work and, as cliche, as it sounds, things fall apart so other things can come together.

I want to touch on mental health for a moment. By this time, there are probably already things you struggle to cope with and I just want to say, there is no weakness in asking for help. You don’t need to let things get to rock bottom before you say enough is enough. Also, always look out for those who are quiet in your circle. Hold them close and check in on them often – they will turn out to be your closest friends in the future and being a listening ear to someone’s hardships is a privilege.

Over time, people will come in and out of your life but you should always remain graceful in your interactions with others, however fleeting. Listen closely, converse humbly and allow your actions to speak volumes about who you are on the inside. Of course, you’ll make mistakes because, after all, we’re all human but, always be kind. You’ll meet people that don’t live by this and you should also keep in mind that you are always free to walk away. Walking away is sometimes more powerful than standing and fighting.

To close, I just want to say that I’m proud. I’m proud of who you were, I’m proud of what you are at age 14 and, most importantly, I’m proud that you are a piece of me. Without you, I would never have grown to be the dreamer I am today. After all, you embody one of my favourite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,”