You were created from stardust, a body made up from the same glasses of this universe.
You discovered how to crawl, to walk, to run, to learn and to love. You survived your first day of kindergarten and each day after that. You picked a favorite color, a favorite animal and who you wanted to be when you grew up. You learned to share and to treat others the way you want to be treated. Soon enough, counting numbers turned into math problems and sight words turned into devouring all of Harry Potter.
You made it to middle school, through your awkward stages of being in between nothing and everything. Your body didn’t even feel like your own anymore, as your hips widened and you experienced womanhood for the first time. Yet, you rose out of the crushing gossip and expectations. You saw how people can be so hurtful, and questioned how you were ever going to make it out alive. You made friends, lost friends and tackled that oh-so-difficult time in your life.
You made it to high school. You succeeded in classes, failed classes. Maybe you fell in love with that boy in your history class, or better yet, you fell in love with yourself. You even made some mistakes and learned for the better that you can’t always do everything by yourself. I hope you treated your existence as something out of a John Green novel. You spent long nights FaceTiming friends and laughing with those who mattered most. You poured your worth into dozens of college applications, only for a pretentious and rude administration to send you a 50 word email that they are “unable to offer you admission.” You’ve battled yourself as much as you’ve battled others, and sunk to the ground when even your own thoughts weren’t kind to yourself. Then one day, you walked across a graduation stage in a cap and gown and looked ahead to the future.
You went to college. You moved into a cramped dorm room with a couple of suitcases and a complete stranger of a roommate. You waved goodbye to your parents and set off on your newest adventure. You dove into newfound academia and answered that same question you’ve been thinking since kindergarten. You went to parties and sporting events. You’ve lost yourself in music and adrenaline and felt truly alive for the first time. You’ve crammed for exams and hit the lowest lows and highest highs. You built a home in an unfamiliar city and settled into that dorm room just fine.
It’s you I’m talking to. You made it here. Through a physical and emotional rollercoaster, and here you are with grace and dignity in this season of your life. Maybe your life has been uprooted once or a hundred times and still you are here. At present day, within a global crisis of a pandemic, you have survived. I may not know what your story looks like or how you made it here, but I am proud of you. You did not make it this far to only come this far and if you’ve done it once you can do it again. Keep going, for me and for you, you are a force of nature.