Dear Younger Me,
What an exciting time this is for you! I know you don’t exactly feel over-the-moon excited, but there’s a lot I wish you would cherish in this moment. You envy your friends who are itching to get out of the house, while you feel like you have one foot at home and one out the door. You’re still looking behind you at everything you’re walking away from: sports, clubs, teachers, and friends. Everything you defined yourself by is now finished, and you’re looking ahead at a lot of unknowns. The cool thing, though, is that this is a time you can explore who you are without those things. I wish I had done more resting and dreaming then. Because high school was busy, and college was busy, and I longed for the time to breathe. Here’s your time to do that. Read some new books. Go swimming. Do something fun. Love on the people around you and let yourself be loved on, too.
Here’s where you struggle: you so badly want to define yourself by what you do. This couple of months has been eating at you because you don’t have anything to define you anymore, yet I want you to know there’s beauty in that. You’ll learn this a lot in college and beyond, but it’s God who defines who you are. What a relief that you don’t! I’m thankful for that – God has given me so much today beyond my expectations that I’d never have planned for myself, and you’ll see that someday.
So enjoy these moments without definition, and enjoy your family and friends. It’s okay to be nervous about college. If you were starting in 2020, there would be a lot you would be nervous about. But for you, it’s okay to be nervous leaving home, yet you don’t have to live worried about who you are. God’s got a lot in store for you!
Love,
Megan
