Letter to Myself from 2030

A LETTER TO 2020 SHAIREEN

 FROM 2030 SHAIREEN

Dear Shaireen,

      I would introduce myself as a mature version of you but that is very questionable since I don't see much difference between you and me. Let's just say that I'm a more experienced version of you, I'm Shaireen from 2030. I know you are obsessed with comparing yourself with your past self, and in 10years that hasn't changed at all. So I'm writing this letter to tell you how much you and your world has changed. And how amazing some changes can be.

I would like to start by congratulating you for surviving the last 18years of your life and the last 10 years of my life. I won't say that the last 10 years were tougher or easier than the 18years you've lived because we both know that toughness of our obstacles are directly proportional to experiences we have, where our ability to overcome difficulties remains constant. I remember saying how dramatic teenager's life can be, just wait until you step into adulthood, you don't even know the real meaning of drama. 

I'm not going to tell you what will happen in the next 10years of your life, because I want life to surprise you like it did to me. You already know about the things I'm going to talk about, most if the things happened like you planned but with a lot of twists and turns. 

But I'm going to tell you about three experiences that changed me completely.

Let's start with the one that you've already started experiencing, High School and Weirdos. High school has many of the most memorable of my life only because of the group of odd teenagers you named Weirdos. I know how much you want Weirdos to last forever. Weirdos were like lost pieces of 5 different unsolved puzzles that fit perfectly with each other. Weirdos got separated, at the back of the head you already knew that it was inevitable. Ninad, Altaf, Dhairya, And Divyesh went all in separate ways. That was one of the things that changed me drastically. That was the time I learnt the price of being human. Being human comes with all these very negative yet important emotions like loneliness and depression, they all have got their own purpose and you will learn them. 

Second experience that changed me a lot is college. This experience taught me the value of family. I know you already know the worth of family. But you'll even miss that annoying little panda, Fardeen. When you are away from your family for 3years you understand their impact in every small and big thing you do. College life also taught me a lot of things about myself,  and I am full of surprises.

The third experience I want to talk about is Teaching. Last year I started an organization that goes school to school and teaches management of mental health or the importance of empathy to teenagers, just how you planned. And that has made the biggest impact on the way I see other people and myself. There is no day when I don't learn something from those silly teenagers.

A normal person will end this letter with some advice but we both know that R & D doesn't work on humans, and advice is like research. For humans it's F & L & C, Fail- Learn- Change. I've learnt a lot in the last 29 years of my life. You'll learn a lot too, I know that because I did.

I'm going to end this letter by asking you to promise me something, and I'll promise you something. Let's promise each other to never stop being optimistic and kind. Being kind and optimistic is our superpower. Let's never forget our mantra "Things will get better" because things will never stop getting better, Optimism at its best!!  Let's stay the Optimistic and Kind Queen we are.

Yours You,

Love Shaireen