21 Days: A Private Letter

Dear Jessica,

You are not a bad person because you are struggling in school. You are not weak. You are a girl on the verge of womanhood, who is tired and scared of everything that waits for you. You feel very small right now, a dinghy in the ocean, tempest-tossed. But you are not small. You are great.

You have talents and skills that can save people. You have an inner light that is strong, despite what you may feel now. The storms that tear at your heart are fleeting and insubstantial. What you are will outlast them. You are so much more powerful than the monsters beating at your door. Only your fear keeps you trapped in the corner, hiding from perceived terrors. Stand up. Fight them. Take the punches, knowing that for every one you receive, you are delivering with twice as much force. It will hurt, but you will win. You will.

Don't be ashamed to feel sorrow. There is darkness, and there are reasons enough to cry. These are not moments of weakness. The blackest nights will be the same to you as the brightest days: they will shape you.

If a paper is put into the fire, it will burn and turn to ash. If a bar of steel is put into the fire, it will learn to bend and to change its shape, until it has become a fine tool. But what if the steel believes it is only a piece of paper? What will happen then?

Do not let the image you hold of yourself become warped or disfigured. When you can't be sure of your own face, take a breath. Remember the smallest, purest instances of who you are, and work your way up. You are a pair of blue eyes. You are easy laughter. You are an excited pen. You are still here.

Let the world spin. Hold tight to yourself as an anchor. There are countless, unseen hands holding you up. They will not let you fall.

Go. And do what you came here to do.

Love Always,

Yourself