Dear 7th Grade me, it’s nice talking to you again. I’m writing this to tell you that you shouldn’t let anybody choose your life. It is yours to choose! Don’t be afraid to be different! You don’t have to be a people pleaser, people will like you for who you are. Don’t let others get you down, you are amazing. People are bound not to like you; that’s just their fault for not knowing how kind a person you are. I want you to know there will be people who like you, so don’t forget you are a kind, thoughtful, loving person. God made you to be you, not someone else, so follow your path and don’t let anyone hold you back.
You are in for a rollercoaster of emotions and new experiences. Don’t be afraid; be excited, be happy, be you! People will suck that’s just how it is. People are mean and they won’t always like you, and that’s okay. I want you to know you will find your place. You will find the people you have been looking for; you just have to wait.
I know our family don’t get me wrong it will be hard to not follow their decisions. Hold your ground. Don’t let them choose your path like they did mine; choose for yourself. Who do you want to be? I don’t want you to follow anyone anymore. I want you to find your own path. It doesn’t matter how they see us as different from our family; it matters what we see: a person made for success. Don’t let them drag you down. I know it will be stressful, but it’s worth it. Don’t let them choose your high school like they did mine. Choose for yourself.
I know it’s easier to give up and just let them choose, but it won’t make you happy; it will just make you miserable. Family should support you, not tear you into pieces. Friends should love you for who you are, not who you make yourself to be. Teachers should encourage you and help you, not tell you your hopes and dreams are childish. Family can be kind, but not always. Family can be a lot.
We are the first to be going to a Catholic school and the first to go to a Catholic high school, so of course they will be mad and upset, and make you think you aren’t worth or don’t deserve any of this. Your accomplishments will all of a sudden become “because of them.” That isn’t true. You did this. You got this scholarship, you got into this school, and you worked hard. Don’t let them tell you it was because of them. Don’t let them think you owe it to them. It was all you. Don’t let them take your happiness, your pride, or your dreams.
People will use you for your smarts, your kindness, your help, and your joy. Don’t let them; they just want to take everything and leave you miserable. Sometimes life forces your world to collapse not to punish you, but to give you a blank canvas to build something better. And that’s what you’re going to do: build something better. You built your world off pressure, now do it for yourself. You built it to survive, or at least that’s how you felt. You felt the need to strive to be better.
You were set with a high bar of keeping up with your siblings, keeping up with the sister that everyone loved. Your parents loved her the smartest one yet and then there was you, and that hit way more. Having a family of nine, wow, a lot, right? Well, each one of those siblings has been a competition to you since you were a kid. All you heard was, “You have to beat me. You have to be smarter than me.” That was set since birth, to be smarter and you got stuck with the highest bar that you’ve jumped for for 11 years and never reached.
Why do we continue to torture ourselves when our motivation is so negative? “You’re not good enough. What are you still doing? Why are you like this? How are you related to such smart people? Why can’t I be like them? Why won’t God answer me?“ That’s all you’ve ever thought, so why are you still torturing yourself?!
Remember, of course you’re different: YOU AREN’T THEM, YOU ARE YOU! You are kind to everyone else, why not yourself? Start thinking: “I am kind, I am smart, I am proud, I am someone people look up to, and I am a daughter of God.” So take your time, and one day you will reach your own expectations. Don’t be so hard on yourself; you are a wonderful person. I wish I was still like you, kind, hopeful, and you are one of the people I look up to.
Melanie Vasquez – De La Salle Institute – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: Sibling of Melanie Vasquez