As I go into my freshman year of college, I have gained so many new followers on every social media platform you could possibly imagine. Since March alone, I've gained almost 200 new Instagram followers, not that I'm complaining.

However, all of this has made me extremely self-aware when it comes to my presence on social media. Everything I post, send and comment is being blasted to more people than ever, and if I'm being honest, it has made me a little self-conscious.

Like most people, when I started seeing this influx of new followers and friends, I stalked myself so that I could see what everyone else was seeing. I haven't deleted that much, but I did tweak some captions for embarrassment's sake.

In the midst of all of this reminiscing on old trips and memories, I decided to take a look through my journal from the past year. I really enjoy journaling as a way to get my feelings out without causing an extreme scene. Plus, it's nice to look back every once in a while.

However, I don't journal every day. I'm not that consistent of a person, and that's OK. Most of my journal entries are from times when I was feeling stressed, upset or confused, and I just needed to quickly vent after a long day.

While reading through these passages, I felt a little sad for myself.

I remembered going through so many changes and going through them alone. There were so many times when I wrote about feeling lonely or scared, mentioning that I didn't know what to do. I wished someone would give me advice as I navigated through some of the hardest times of my life.

To my 2017 self, it gets better.

I know you're scared and unsure of the future. I know that things seem worse than ever, but they get a lot better really soon.

The biggest struggle I faced with my mental health was that I always felt like there was no end in sight when it came to the bad things. You can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's really terrifying to think that there's no solution to all of the bad stuff in your head. But it always gets better.

Pretty soon, you're going to meet your best friends in the entire world, and you're going to have a support system that you thought you would never get.

Most importantly, though, you're going to learn that all of this heartache and confusion is going to make you a better person.

It's going to help you mend your relationships. It will help you navigate the process of getting into college.

It will make you stronger than you've ever been.

Ultimately, just hang on. Things will be better soon, I promise.