Dear me,

I'm writing this letter from the future. Well, for me, it's the present, but that's not really important. When I started high school, I put this overwhelming pressure on myself to be the best academically, but sometimes I put so much pressure on myself that I drifted away from who I was. High school was supposed to be the best four years of my life, but I got so caught up in the friends I had, what I didn't have and worrying that my grade point average wasn't as high as the girl next to me. Looking back, I wish I could have done things differently. I wish I could go back and change a lot of the decisions I made in high school, but I can't, so writing this letter will have to suffice.

I wish I had been more social. I know that school comes first -- even now that I'm in college, it does -- but I wish I had gotten out and been involved more when I was in high school.

I wish I had been more selective about who I called my "best friend." I could have saved myself a lot of drama and hurt. I wish I had known how to differentiate between a real friend and a friend who was only in it for themselves. I wish I had listened to my mom when she told me that when it comes to friends, quality is much more important than quantity.

I wish I hadn't gotten so into being in the "popular group" when, looking back, I was happy where I was. I was so worried about the image I had and what people thought of me that I seemed to stop caring what I thought of myself

I wish I had realized that a math teacher was pretty much the worst career choice for me before I graduated high school. I knew my strengths, and I wasn't choosing a path that would showcase them. I chose what I thought everyone wanted me to choose rather than what I was actually good at.

I wish I had saved a lot more of my money. I knew all along I would have to pay for my own college and I should have paid more attention to that while I was working in high school. Who knows, I could have ended up at a different school with a different group of friends and a different job.

In all honesty, while I can say that I wish I had done things differently, I'm really happy with the path I'm on now. I can honestly say that I'm becoming the person I want to be rather than the person everyone expects me to be and that's a liberating feeling. I have a good plan for my life, and the only thing I would really change is how focused my younger self was. It would have saved me a lot of stress and time.

-- Present me.