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A Letter To My Younger Self

Fourteen Years Later

By Kelsey ClareyPublished 3 years ago 1 min read
A Letter To My Younger Self
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Dear fourteen-year-old girl,

With big dreams and stars in her eyes,

Who believes you have your whole life mapped out.

I’m afraid I have some bad news for you…

The world is not as straightforward as you think.

It will break your heart a thousand times over.

You will lose people, you will be disillusioned,

You will be forced to drop those rose-colored glasses

And you will die countless small deaths

And mourn each piece of you that is lost.

And I will disappoint you in so many ways.

But like the vampires in the stories you love so much

You will return from each small death

As something stronger and more powerful

Then you were before.

You will end up in unexpected places

With unexpected people

And you will be the better for it.

This is what growing up is like,

And so I am not sorry for disappointing you.

Change is painful, but it’s necessary

And I promise you, it will be worth it.

With all my love,

You:

A twenty-eight-year-old woman

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About the Creator

Kelsey Clarey

She/Her/Fae/Faer. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I mostly write poetry and flash fiction currently, a lot of it fantasy/folklore/fairy tale inspired. I also like to do a lot of fiber arts and design TTRPGs.

https://linktr.ee/islanderscaper

Reader insights

Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

Top insights

  1. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

  2. On-point and relevant

    Writing reflected the title & theme

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Comments (6)

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  • Savannah K. Wilsonabout a year ago

    I absolutely adore this poem! It is so loving and kind to your younger self, but full of important warning and foresight! So well done! 🩷🩷🩷

  • This is very true. You have inspired me to write a letter to my younger self

  • This was so very insightful and filled with truth. What I have seen and experienced in my 64 years would make a great letter to my 28 year old self. We never stop going through changes, hurt, growth, and sorrow. But it is all part of the glorious path of life.

  • Mo Darasi2 years ago

    Great words we all need at some point in life 😊

  • Yusuf Alam2 years ago

    💯 You nailed it! 💪 Great job, seriously! 👌

  • L.C. Schäfer3 years ago

    Eloquent and relatable 😁 I love the idea of coming back from each small death stronger 😁

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