Dear 5-year-old self,
Please, please don't ever wish to grow up. Do you know what I'd give to travel back in time and be you again? Running wild, with a mind full of wonder and curiosity. Childhood is such a beautiful thing, and you don't ever realize just how quickly it is taken from you. At your age, I looked up to the big kids, wishing that I could be older and cooler. Please, take it from me, being a big kid is not as fun as it looks.
I miss playing outside, no shoes on, chasing my baby brothers around my yard without a care in the world. I miss being too sassy to go to daycare because "everyone cries like babies." I miss those precious moments with my parents, sneaking into their room at 9 p.m. and snuggling up in their bed because I was too scared to sleep in the dark. I miss not giving one single care in the world about what I was wearing, who I was playing with and what day of the week it was. Dear 5-year-old self, please do not rush into growing up. The world is too beautiful when you are only 5 years old, you do not want to experience the world as an adult yet. Trust me.
Life is absolutely magical when you're 5 years old. The world is full of color, full of imagination and best of all, full of love. Going out in public was the best, because every stranger you talked to thought you were adorable and trust me, it's not like that when you become a big kid. At 5 years old, you can basically get whatever you want as long as you pout a little bit. Do you know how much I wish I could just pout and look cute and get my college tuition paid for? Dear 5-year-old self, that's a kind of life that you don't want to give up yet. When you become a big kid, the imagination fades, the colors of the world become dull, and you realize the saddest reality of all. The world is not full of love. Hate has overcome all the love.
Dear 5-year-old self, hold on to your mom and dad and never let go. When you're my age, you will wish you could squeeze and squeeze forever. Isn't it great that at 5 years old we don't have to worry about moving out? We've still got years of hugging our parents and fighting with our siblings left. Cherish every single one of those moments as you grow up, because you never realize how hard it is to move away and leave those things behind. Dear 5-year-old self, love your family unconditionally. Give so many hugs that it just becomes natural to you. Give so much lovin's that you never want to give lovin's again. Please, for me?
Most important of all, grow up and be who you want to be. Don't let those girls bully you in middle school. Don't let the anxiety and depression eat away at your happiness. Don't get caught up in a man who is only going to break your heart. Realize that friends will come and go and drama will always be a part of life. Please, 5-year-old self, realize that life is extremely hard and it is full of ups and downs. Just know that you will go through a lot and all of this will change you. It will shape you into the 20-year-old woman you are today. Know that your life is full of ups and downs that will give you the best of times as well as the worst of times. Trust me on this. But know that you have an amazing support system, you have the best, most loving parents a girl could ask for, you have the sweetest little brothers that you're going to watch grow into men one day, and lastly, know that everything always works out, no matter how bad it seems.
Dear 5-year-old self, I love you and I am proud of who you've become. You rock.
