If you end up reading this ….
I’ll frown but not fret if you come home with muddy feet and dirt streaked
cheeks because I’ll know you’ve been out exploring and challenging the limits
of your imagination. In a touchscreen world where instant gratification is
currency, I would want you to live your childhood. Adulthood, is overrated.
And in an age that prides perfection, I hope you don’t
always come home with Straight As. Perfect scores mess with your psyche. School
is not a competition of darts, or a game where every half point counts. If
anything, develop the passion for learning new things and creating new
experiences. Know this, the only A that will bring you far in life is Attitude.
Make friends who will make memories you’ll laugh at when
you’re in your 60’s and 70’s. You’ll cut a class or two, you’ll probably be
summoned to the principal’s office at least once (nothing is going to match the
adrenaline rush you get within those torturous minutes waiting for your parents
to arrive and your turn to be called in), but those are the stupid things you
can afford to do only in your youth.
When you oppose the paths I’ll inadvertently point you
towards, I’ll cringe, and bite my tongue, but inwardly rejoice at your spine
and will. Because you’ll remind me that you were not born to be a mini me. Or
an outlet for me to live vicariously through.
I’ll know then, that you’ll be a person brave enough to charge through whatever
obstacles that may stand between you and your dreams. A person of your own, who
will not let someone else dictate the rules for YOUR life. A person capable of making sound, reasonable
decisions.
I’m not going to lie. You are going to fail at something,
some point or another. Remember though that people look at the world through
different lenses. Some people choose to magnify the negatives, some don’t
realize that their lenses are coloured, some zoom in on their successes and ignore
the things that don’t go their way. When things don’t go your way, I hope
you’ll know that the bigger picture is made up of thousands of tiny dots, and
some of these dots may not add up in your current situation, but all paths lead
the way they were meant to. If you lose your perspective, zoom out and take a look at the bigger picture.
