A letter to…

The ten-year-old girl frustrated with hitting puberty too early; to the embarrassed twelve-year-old girl who wants the world to swallow her whole while some boy asks her why she (unlike all the other girls in her grade) has boobs while she waits in line to go into class; to the frustrated eighteen year old told that her butt makes her too curvy.

Don’t worry.

Know that you won’t be stuck in this white-washed, blue-collar neighbourhood for too long. Don’t stress about your blackness and know that you are black enough. Don’t even bother trying to explain how you are both black and white to people because they are too stupid to understand the effects of globalisation. Know that the love for your skin, your hair and your voice is eternal. Know that following your dreams will literally take you around the world. Know that it’s more comfortable to be who you truly are rather than pretending to be something or someone else. If you don’t realise this soon, you’ll find out that it is too exhausting to uphold. Even worse, the after effects of this will come back to bite you twice as hard – putting you down, making you doubt yourself and sending you to therapy. Don’t fear therapy. Therapy is there to help you break down the walls that you have built yourself. Don’t fear feeling like the world at times is just too much. Sometimes it just is. Don’t worry that you don’t see yourself reflected by the society that you were born into and call home; because you need to know that this will give you freedom to discover who you are with no preconceived ideas of who you are meant to be. Be strong because this is not going to be easy, and at times, this will really and truly suck. Be open to being loved because your friends will be your family, the boy you like will be the other half of your soul and the people you meet along your lifetime will decorate your memory, stretch your mind and redefine your boundaries.

Feel.

Let anger motivate you to seek something else, something better for yourself – that is truly what you deserve. Though be careful because this anger is addictive and you will get comfortable with it. Try not to. This anger will come with side effects, though at times it will seem more alluring and easier to grasp than being upset. Let love happen and be open to it, because you don’t want to miss the chance of making those lifelong friendships as you grow and evolve. These friendships are important and will make you a better person. These friendships will give you the opportunity to talk, and that is really important because staying inside your own head gets claustrophobic. The more you talk the more you’ll realise that you’re not alone. The more you talk the more you’ll realise that normal is not normal.

Be brave and be vulnerable, because the two are not exclusive. Take chances even if you think you’ll fail and make an idiot of yourself. You probably will, but they will give you opportunities you never saw coming. Stay away from YouTube wormholes. You probably won’t do this, but it’s worth a try!

Above everything else, know that you are loved because there will be times when the world will seem like a dark place that is made to break you and tell you that you are of no worth

That is a lie.

You are brilliant and I love you.

x The Future