Dear Younger Self

This week for my post I felt inspired by a blog post one of our sparklers Christine Figueroa did on her blog.  It seemed like a great opportunity for reflection and growth. If you like it, I encourage you to pop out your journal and write a letter to your younger-self...Love Ciara

Dear Younger Self,

Life is never going to be easy, but the good times will always outweigh the bad times. The funny thing is that you will never regret the bad times, because they helped you learn some things that you needed to learn. Older Ciara is the same way as you are now, and has to learn by experiencing things for herself. I wish I could tell you situations to avoid, but that would be counterproductive. You need to experience those things and fall a little to grow. Just remember that ultimately you will learn SO MUCH by humbling yourself when you mess up. Go ahead, make those stupid mistakes. Just do not do the big ones, because we know those are a bad idea…hahaha

A big thing you need to know, is that accepting and agreeing are NOT the same thing. You do not have to agree with the choices your peers make to accept them. Continue accepting people for who they are, people will love that about you. A lot of the friends you have now are going to be around for a long time. On the other end of that, some of the friends you have now are not going to end up being one of your life long besties. That is okay!! Life is going to get busy and you will not have time for everyone you have ever shared a memory with. Make time for the friends who make time for you. You have a lot of love to share, and sometimes this allows you to get hurt. There will be times when friends hurt you, but know that there is nothing wrong with you and your ability to love others. You have a tendency to go above and beyond for your friends, always continue to do that, even if they do not reciprocate that. Do not regret showing service to those you love, because that is what we are meant to do. 

 

Your family is always going to be there for you and they will surprise you in your hardest times. Each one of them have made stupid choices in their life, so they get it. Do not be afraid to lean on them. Like I said they have made stupid choices in their life before, and they are not perfect. If you expect them to be patient with you, be patient with them as well.

Be patient your first year of college. Your high school friends are not going to forget you, trust me. You are going to be lonely at first, but I promise you it is going to get so much better! The first few Friday nights are not going to be exciting, but making friends takes time. Eventually you are going to make lifelong friends, and you are going to wonder how you made it through your life this far without them. People make college sound like a big scary monster, but it is not that scary. If you can survive the IB program in high school you can survive college. Also, do not always choose the “grown up” choice and turn down plans because you have too much homework. College is only 4 years, so it will be worth it to do those plans and stay up into the wee hours of the night to finish those assignments. 

You are also going to fall in love, and that cheesy stuff you made fun of is going to make sense. At this point I wish I could tell you about your future husband, but I have not met him yet to tell you about it. What I can tell you is that you are going to fall in love at some point, and it is not going to work out. God put you two in each others life for a reason, and it is no mistake that he comes into your life. Nothing is wrong with you or the first guy you fell in love with, it just was not meant to be. You are going to hurt and struggle with it not working, but you will get through it. People may warn you about your relationship, try to help, and give advice. You do what is best for you. Trust yourself Ciara because eventually you make the right decision, but if you do it before you are ready it will not turn out well. There is one good thing about it not working out with him, eventually it will work out with the right one. 

Your relationship with your Heavenly Father and your Savior will grow so much as you get older. The power of the Atonement will come to mean so much to you. Read your scriptures because you learn so much when you do. Always keep your sight on the temple.

You are sometimes going to love your body and sometimes you are not going to. Your body does not define who you are or what you have to offer. There are a lot of things you think will not ever be possible because of your body but if you work hard enough they become possible. When you accomplish the impossible it is going to feel so good! No matter what your body looks like, you are beautiful! You have a personality that people gravitate towards, and that also makes you so beautiful. When you have a passion for something you go for it, and you are going to make a difference in the world.

With Love,

Your Older Self