Daisy,

I am writing this to you as a 20-year-old woman, you are no longer just a girl in a school uniform being given out to for having badges plastered over your jumpers, you are in your 20’s now. And this is somehow even scarier than entering the halls of secondary school and finding yourself surrounded by 200 odd strangers who you would soon call your friends. Secondary school has, and will, bring a whole host of challenges your way, and some will wash over you with enough force that you will feel like you could drown, but there is one thing you have that will never leave you- resilience.

Resilience has been the driving force behind your every move for your entire life, Daisy, and you are lucky to have it. You will face every issue you have, and you will face them with vigour, this doesn’t always mean you will make the right choices, or that you are kind enough to always do the right thing, but you will always, always get out of bed the next day to face it all, something I will always be proud of you for.

Your 20s will bring to you things that are as terrifying as they are invigorating, and you will live the life you have talked about having since you could talk, you will live with your best friends, and you will attend the college you only recently allowed yourself to want, you will express yourself more freely than you ever have previously, and you will love just as strongly and just as easily as you always have. This is something that will often get you into trouble, but it will save you from it at the same time. You will surround yourself with people who are wonderful, and who are intelligent and challenging, and you will grow every day as stubborn as you are.

Things will happen to you that you feel you won’t deserve, but growing up brings alongside it the unfairness of the world, and this is something you will fight in frustration. This is inevitable, and sometimes, this wins. You will be young, and you will be impulsive, but at 20 years old you will look back and realise that you have no regret. You will live your teenage life as freely and as foolishly as one should live their teenagedom, and you will cry often and long. You will fight and you will make up. You will kiss, and you will cry some more. You will laugh, and you will learn. You are an ever work in progress, but one that is being shaped by those around you, and you are lucky enough to have those around you be beautiful artists.

Keep saying yes, Daisy, and never forgo an opportunity, they will lead you to do things that you will always be proud of. You will burn out frequently, but you have so much passion that it is important you let it out. You won’t write as much at 20 as you did at 15, but maybe this isn’t a terrible thing. I think now you just don’t need to find the words to tell people how you see the world, or how deeply you feel things, because the people around you right now just understand. You don’t need to prove yourself with every step, and you are always unashamedly yourself. You get funnier, you get more tired, you get happier. Don’t worry so much. Keep saying Yes. Keep pushing through.

Daisy

 

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