Hey my younger self I know this must be weird for you to read something to come from your future self and I know what just happened is a lot for you but just know that there will always be hard times to come but just remember that overcoming it will make you stronger. This will be more prevalent when you get to fifth grade because that will be, to put it simply, a culture shock you’ll know this because you’ll change schools and go from an all white school to hispanic and black school so you’ll learn rel fast how important being able to talk to new people is and find out your not what is most important there is way more outside of you that is more important though you won’t want to accept that. The next thing that will come from these challenges you will face is that you’ll be more aware of how life is not just a set path that you follow. Life to put it short is a path that you gotta adapt to all the changes that it will give you. Whether those changes are changes in the environment you grow up in or just taking people out of your life or adding important people to your life that will make it better then it is but more to me what life was. The main take away that I want to get about adapting to life is that it won’t be easy by any means but will cause you to be a better person later on even if in the moment you feel like you’ve lost a huge part of who you are. I say this because I know that tio joe’s death was hard especially because he was your role model for the type of person you want to be like and that he was your father figure while you didn’t get to see dad often, but as I said before life will change you lost him but dad will be more prevalent in your life, also try to not shut others out because that will only cause trust issues with others that all they want to do is help and fix what is wrong with you, or just wanting to make a connection with you don’t lose who you are deep down just because you lost the most important person in your life there are others who will come into your life and they will start to take his place though that may be hard to believe at this moment and I want for you to not want to be away from others or in other words don’t shut the world out it will cause you to be introverted and seem like an outcast to yourself and others just try to stay in touch with those that care for you and that you care about ,and I get that it might seem like the best choice because you can get away from your pain and problems but just open up and let people know about your pain it’ll help when it comes to coping with the pain, and don’t think that this pain will last for a little or last forever it’ll last for a long time but not for the rest of time. I know this also is gonna be a lot to take in seeing how young you are but this experience will make you more mature mentally and when it comes to perspective because you’ll know more than those that are still living life like nothing bad can come into their life. I’ve said a lot but It’s all because I really wanted you to take away at least three things, 1) don’t shut everyone out in your life, 2) don’t let this event change who you are as a person, last but definitely not least use what happened to teach you an extremely useful lesson that will help you as a person, and just in life as well because it will make you stand out if you can find a lesson in his death.
Isai Reyes – Lane Tech College Prep – DMSF Class of 2027
Photo by Daniel J. Schwarz on Unsplash