Letter to my future self

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 Dear Future Aryan,


I hope you are still alive. If not, then whoever is reading this message, it is not for you.


If you are alive, then good, I am counting on it. I hope you are doing well, and are happy in your current life position.


How’s your family doing? Are you still on good terms with them? If so keep it that way, and if not, then remember, nobody loves you more in this world than them. Turfs, brawls, any trivial quarrels you form with them are normal, as I engage in them now. But they are your family, they have been, and will stick with you through thick and thin, they know what is best for you, and anything they say to you out of spite and anger is just that- don’t take it to your head.


I hope you still have friends. If not, then power off your device and go make some. In an era of digital chaos, being forlorn is a trait I never want you to have, and friends are the ones in charge of making sure you won't. I hope you still have some of the friends you have now. Sure, some of them are lazy, some of them can be snooty, and some of them just come to your house to empty your refrigerator, but at the end of the day, you were the one who had chosen them as friends, and you are in charge of making sure they stay that way. I hope they are doing well.


I hope you have failed in life, fallen flat on a slab of asphalt, and cried in the corner of your closet. I do not hope you harm, but I hope that you struggle in unimaginable ways so that the phobia of failure becomes so vehement that it fuels the true inner working within you. I hope high school is getting to you, that you are stressed, griefed, and struggling. Keep on struggling, and eventually you won’t need to. 


Everything you do in the next few years will affect everything that happens throughout your life. Grades, sports, everything you are doing to ensure you reach the campus of your dreams is good, but not good enough. Push yourself until you physically and mentally cannot any longer, and then give yourself a couple more nudges. If something is easy, make it harder, and if something is hard, good. You are, and never will be perfect. But keep perfection your priority nonetheless, so that you can have an impossible goal to work for, so that you can make it possible. Stay foolish, stay hungry!


I hope you are still swimming, still playing games, still laughing, and having fun. If not, then you will live your entire life doing something you never wanted to do. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and vice versa, so try not to be Jack. I hope you are working towards strengthening your pros and erasing your cons, and I hope that whatever happens to you, whatever you do, and whatever you try, you put in your absolute best, and then some.


I hope you still don’t have to wear a mask, or socially distance, and I hope you can finally meet and greet your friends after an eternity of seclusion. I hope you are still continuing your extracurricular activities, and trying more, because the more you do, the more you can expand your prowess. I hope you have gotten over your fear of dogs. Because I sure haven’t, and I’ll leave it up to you. 


And finally, stay safe, and stay strong, because even if the whole world has doubted you, cast a shadow on you, and forgotten about you, you have only lost the war if you have lost faith in yourself.


Yours truly,


Aryan Mukherjee,


3 years prior.

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