Hey You,

I was totally planning on making this a mom talk today but I had to take a step back and realize that all the mistakes you ever made up to this point have shaped you into the person that you are so I quickly threw that idea out the window.

Can we take a minute to just visit some of your not so best moments though? No? Well too bad because as your older self I am going to do it regardless! Sorry not sorry.

Yes, your Buckle jeans phase was a bit ridiculous towards the end of high school. Did wearing those jeans REALLY set you apart from other people? No. You will never admit your mother was right about that either because you are too headstrong.

Was being so involved in high school truly worth it? Probably not. I mean it left you with some great memories but at the end of the day, did it actually help you get admitted into the college of your dreams? No.

Every once in a while, I think it is important for you to remind yourself of the important things.

For the love of all things holy, please stop blaming yourself for ‘failing’ in life because you changed your major a few times in college. Looking back, you don’t have your life planned out at 18 years old as a high school senior. You lack experience. You lack knowledge. You lack knowing what it takes to work at something to get what you want. High school was life handed to you and when you got to college, you had to quickly realize that was no longer the case. So what if it took a lot of time and loans to figure it out? At least you didn’t graduate with a degree to realize you absolutely hate the field you chose…

I am going to be honest with you because I know you don’t tell yourself this enough and I think you should. I AM PROUD OF YOU. You have accomplished so much in the last five years and you should be proud of that too. Here you are a few months’ shy of graduation and you don’t even know how great you have life right now. Life is going to get real adulty really fast once you cross that stage in May. Really take the time to appreciate this part of your life you are in right now because I know you hate being stuck when the future is so close.

Please focus on all the GOOD you have going for you and ignore all the BAD things, and I know you constantly struggle with this but please just try.

Brittnae, you aren’t stuck in life. Your life is just getting started. I mean look at all the things you have coming up in 2017… Your first trip out of the country, another nephew in the family, graduation after a very LONG five years, hopefully your first big girl job, I could keep rambling on about how next year is the year of YOU….

2016 was a year of lessons learned. First time actually being motivated enough to making better choices at being healthy, losing some weight (and gaining it back cause real world problems), falling in love for the first time, unknowingly knowing you were going to end up getting your heart broken for the first time, and just learning things about yourself that you never knew before.

You are beautiful. You are strong. Most of all, you are enough.

Take this end of year motivation talk and use it to really own 2017.

After all, it is a new year with a fresh start and 365 days worth of opportunities just waiting to be found.

So what are you waiting for, girl?

2017 is the year of YOU. So OWN IT.

Glad we had this talk today, Brittnae.

Love,

Brittnae