Advice to My Future Children | 2

Ask for help, learn, keep moving.

Everything changes at some point. They rarely happen overnight and often without you realizing you’re any different from before. Some changes, though, spring from great purpose and effort.

I, for example, would be a miserable person without the support of my family, friends who saw more in me than I saw in myself, and some strategic medical attention. I get anxious. My battle with voices telling me I’m not enough is constant. The chemicals in my brain sometimes make me believe the world is dark. I recognize all these things about myself, and I work every day to change them. I take a deep breath. I find a friend who gives good pep talk.

Most importantly, I ask for help.

Look how far I’ve come! I am a different person than the one who sat in her dorm room playing Bejeweled ten years ago. That Kaitlin would never have walked into a party by herself, gone to brunch a book as her date, or write things on the internet without the anonymity of a screen name.

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We need to be open with our struggles. You’re allowed to be sad, to feel pain, and to have setbacks. You will make mistakes and fail miserably. I err with the best of them. It knocks the breath out of me and makes me wonder why I bother. Then I remember the last time I screwed up, fell down, and said something stupid…and how I fixed my mistake, stood up, and laughed at myself.

That’s the point of life, isn’t it? To learn from your mistakes. To improve and make yourself better. How else are we supposed to change the world?