The Girl with Yellow Shoes

A while aback, I wrote a post to my 16 year-old-self. I see it fitting to now write one to my 40 year-old self. Choosing 40 was arbitrary really but considering I hope to retire by then, I guess it makes sense.

Dear Future Me, 

How you doing? *in Joey voice* (I’m pretty certain Friends reruns would still be airing and this phrase will be relevant). Firstly, I hope that you still get really hyped (this word, on the other hand, would probably be extinct) for your birthday… and you still embrace the concept of aging like fine wine. If not, we really need to fix that.

I know that you stopped planning out how you would like your life to work out so I won’t say that I hope you married with kids and living some fantastical life. Instead, I would want you to be happy- genuinely happy. I really wish that, at this stage in your life, you can answer, without hesistation, YES, when you are asked if you are happy. And I would hope that this happiness does not come as an acceptance of your situation but rather as a contentment- with who you are as a person, the people around you and what you do. I just want you to remember, that you deserve to be happy. Yes, I am fully aware this may sound vain coming from yourself- but it’s true. After all, if you do not think you deserve happiness, then you’re giving the power to others to make you unhappy- because you will refuse to believe that you deserve otherwise.