The odds are slim you will read this–only slightly more than you knowing it even exists. However, if you do read it, take it to heart. You are 18 yrs old now and the living, breathing engine of how most things work around here. I can only imagine how hard it is to be a girl–harder than it is to watch you grow up, I suppose, but we share the same fears. I am terrified and exhilarated by who you can become. You are in every way possibility. You are in every way unmoored and adrift. There are pressures attacking you from every possible direction, each wanting what is either what they think is your best interests or in their best interests.
‘What do you want?’ is an impossible question for an 18 yr old. The problem then with possibility is that it creates a multitude of paths that don’t offer much more than trouble, disappointment, and hard mental work from the onset. Moving forward–turning 18–is like busting out of a cocoon. You can become so overwhelmed with that freedom that the easiest and most expedient thing to do is to fly away.
But where are you going?
I’m not sure this message makes much sense. I tend to ramble when I am searching for the right words. Here is one clean takeaway though: Be mindful. Freedom is a dangerous thing, because you aren’t actually free. You’re just in a bigger game where you don’t necessarily know all the rules yet.