Dear Me, circa 2002:
You just graduated high school. Nicely done (not that there was any doubt). You’re moving away from home, and you’ll be surprised just how much that helps in the long run.
Enjoy your time at U of T. Go to class more. Try to sleep more. Eat better. Stay vegetarian—you’ll just be jumping back on that train in a couple of years anyway. Cherish the friends you make there because they are some serious kick butt people. Enjoy Toronto more—you’ll be wishing you still lived in a city 10 years from now. Go out drinking and dancing more because you won’t be able to do that for as long as you think. Go sing karaoke: Seriously. Just do it.
Go out and be young while you can: Things are going to get serious faster than you expect. You’re going to get hit out of nowhere with a chronic illness. You’re going to get married young. You’re going to be a journalist, which means you’re not going to have money. You’ll be lucky enough to find work in the midst of a terrible economic downturn. Your husband will go on to get two master’s degrees. You’ll become a Sunday school teacher (weird, right?). You’ll move to the South. You’ll run a newspaper. And all of this? It’ll happen before you hit 30, which seems really far at 18.
Most importantly: Relax. Things will work out for you, even if it’s not exactly the way you expected. Despite everything, life is pretty awesome.
Cheers,
Me, circa 2011
P.S.- Stay away from “The Matrix.” The second two movies aren’t worth the $30 you spent to see them.
This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J
