I know you feel like some days you can't breathe. The world is the scariest it might ever be to you right now because you don't have control over much.

I know you feel like you won't ever find your way. If you truly follow your dreams, you might be ridiculed. If you truly follow your dreams your parents might not support it. If your friends see you doing something different they might not understand. The support will be hard to find but you must be very brave, and follow your dreams anyway.

I know your friends can be mean. When you're a teenager it is hard to break away from people who are no longer meant to be in your life. When you find yourself in company you no longer want to keep, it is hard to be able to really make the most mature decisions in regards to going your separate ways. Be nice. Be kind. Be gentle. You will regret hurting someone's feelings one day.

I know school seems pointless. I know you have great teachers, and maybe one who doesn't understand you. Maybe one who will tell you not to go to college for that major, or not to follow your dreams. They don't walk in your shoes. They don't know your path. They might think they’re trying to guide you, but no one knows your journey like you do. Don't let it scare you, keep on going. Your dreams are put in your heart for a reason.

I know you feel like you won't ever escape your hometown. Whether or not moving is in your future, some towns are small. You can't go to the grocery store without seeing someone you know, and it can feel confining. Trust me, the second you walk across the stage at graduation, every "cool kid" turns into another adult in this world. Your high school was a small pond with a couple big fish. Now it's your time to reinvent yourself and really find out who you truly are. You may have been lost in the crowd in high school, but you will find the real world is very welcoming to dreamers like you.

I know your first crush or love hurts. I know you might be thinking that you won't ever find another pretty face to fawn over and have a giddy teenage fling with. You will, and it won't be as dramatic or stressful as being confined to the opinions of your classmates. It will be freeing, giddy, and much more private.

I know you feel like rejection is at every turn of the corner. You didn't get accepted to the college you wanted, or you didn't get asked to prom by your dream date. Trust me, it's all happening with greater purpose. Your dream prom date would have probably been a buzz kill, and that college would have never led you to your destiny. It seems hard right now but trust me when I tell you, you are on the right path. You are not a failure, and you couldn't be doing more, so settle down.

I know social media makes you sometimes feel like you can't even catch your breath. Your young, and surrounded by even younger people with no filters in regards to what hurts others. You are not the only one who has ever been left out, forgotten, or felt less than. Social media makes everything look pretty. It makes people with ugly hearts look pretty. It makes parties look like a better time than they were. It makes people "friends" who have never spoke in their lives, and probably never will. It makes people even more immature. It makes people think everyone's out there doing it all, looking great, losing weight, making money, having fun, living perfect lives, while you have maybe two of those things going on in your life. All those images are nothing more than a facade.

I know life is hard as a teenager. When I was seventeen my whole world fell apart for various reasons. I lost my friends. I got rejected from my dream college. I dealt with the meanest of girls. I failed my road test three times. I went to prom ~dateless.~ My childhood dog died. I was told by a teacher that college would never be for a dreamer like me, who liked to write, but had a hard time with Trigonometry (Oh No)! I could keep going on with all the ways my life fell apart five years ago, but I'm here to tell you that it ALL works out.

Am I exactly excited to share these personal and somewhat embarrassing details of what my life was like as a teenager? Not exactly, but I am a firm believer that you need to be who you NEEDED when you were younger. If I had someone there to tell me that they went through similar experiences at seventeen, I would have maybe felt some type of comfort knowing that it really could all workout. At that age it is hard to think with a mature mind and to know that you will face hard times in your life, but you won't be lost forever. Time will always go on, and the pain will fade away.

Five years later it really is all okay. It's actually pretty great. I don't think about high school, at all. If you were to have told me that my life would be this good at seventeen I wouldn't have believed you. You might not even believe me right now that it's possible, but it is!

You will do so much more then be popular in high school or have seven thousand Instagram followers. The kid that made fun of you might be your employee one day. All the memories of the bad, immature things that have happened to you will fade away. The world won't be as scary, and you will have a better grip on who you are, and what you want to be.

If you take anything from this remember, high school is not the real world and that's a good thing. I know your teachers probably try to scare you with that statement but it's the best, truest statement you will ever hear, and live. The real world is big, free, and welcoming to those ready to explore it. Think big picture, shape your life and make it exactly how you want it to be. Turns out being a scared, sometimes sad teenager gives you an edge, and life experience that you will be grateful for. Go with it, your life is just beginning, and it only gets better from here.