Dear Linda,
Times have been tough lately. You live in Irvine, away from all your friends and family. You came back from spring break to find that someone stole your bike. Two weeks ago, you crashed into a pole while riding your new bike (which you assembled yourself, and definitely made some mistakes on, oops) . You ended up with a few fractured bones and needed to get surgery on them. It constantly hurts and no medication is strong enough. Online classes have been a tough transition for you, especially since you thrive off human interaction and human connection. You’re slightly behind on everything, in general, and you’ve been struggling to catch up. All you want to do is talk to someone, anyone. And to go outside and get hot pot with friends. You had a phone call last night with your mom that ended slightly bitter because you two couldn’t agree on something that, in hindsight, shouldn’t have even mattered.
But, things will get better. They always do.
You’ll push through. If you can shove your dislocated knee back into its correct position (it made this awful crunching sound I will never forget), you can do anything. Take this time to focus on you and to perhaps become best friends with yourself. Explore your passions, your hobbies, your interests. Really jam out on your electric guitar. Have a conversation with yourself from time to time. Check up on yourself and make sure you’re doing okay. Ask yourself what you truly want out of this life. Get to know the Linda you aren’t familiar with: you’d be surprised how much of her you haven’t gotten to know yet. And don’t forget to call your mom and apologize. She cares about you more than you think and she was just looking out for you.
Best wishes,
Linda