I am future you from 2021, currently 17 years old in our senior year at Evergreen Valley high school. I’m here to give you the advice I wish someone told me when I needed to hear it and remind you to appreciate the calm and simple life you are currently living. One day you’re going to look back at a photo of you right now and hardly be able to recognize yourself. You’re going to have completely different hair, so many earrings and look so much older. You may look like a new person on the outside but you are almost the exact same on the inside. You still put your family first, love to give gifts, go shopping, have no clue how to express your emotions, and can’t sleep in the dark. Sure, you look older, but don’t even think you’re anywhere near being ready to be put into the real world after high school. Everything is static for you now, but be prepared to suddenly go from your highest highs to your lowest lows. You will go from feeling like your life is put together to feeling like your life is crumbling. You’re going to feel like things are going back to normal to giving up all hope of things ever going back to how they were. You’ll go from having some of the best times of your life to not wanting to leave the house. There will be a period where you're going to be constantly disappointed and want to just give up all hope of things getting better. You're going to feel helpless, lost and alone, but know that you’re not and talking it out makes the world of a difference. My best piece of advice for you is that there’s simply no point in putting all your energy into something you have no control over. The sooner you realize this the better off you’ll be because the outcome will be the same whether you stress yourself out or not. All you can do is trust that everything is happening for a reason and will be just how it’s supposed to be in the end. You’re still a work in progress, and that’s okay. You will learn something new every single day and learn from everything you go through. You will second guess yourself and think of all the things you could’ve done differently, but trust yourself and your instinct. Nobody knows what's best for you more than yourself, so if your gut is telling you something, listen. I can’t say that I’m perfect in doing this all the time now, but I wish I realized earlier and saved myself the time and energy. This much I know is true, it’s easy for you to get lost in what’s making you upset, sad or anxious, but if you stop stressing over what you can’t control it’ll be a big weight lifted off your shoulders. 

All the best,

Rylie Ramos-Marquez