Trust your head and your heart
My beloved daughter,
It feels like only yesterday that all you cared about was playing house with your little brothers and watching every episode of Paw Patrol to find out what Stella and her friends were up to.
Today, it’s as if you grew up overnight. You’re suddenly too old to play with your brothers and no longer interested in the games you used to love. You’ve traded in the toy blackboard and chalk you once used to play school for an iPod, which you listen to for hours behind the bedroom door you now prefer to keep closed.
Slowly but surely, the little girl who loved to learn transformed into a girl in search of her identity.
You’ve started rolling your eyes and talking in class, and you’ve made new friends. Your first real friends. The kind that change a person’s life. The kind that make you feel like you can take on the world at all of eight years old because you’re filled with a thrilling new sense of belonging.
You’ve always listened to your head and your heart.
You’ve always made the right decisions. But now, with new friends in your life that I don’t know, I’m afraid you’re beginning to lose your way. I’m afraid you’re willing to abandon your principles and silence that little voice inside you just to be part of their group. To fit in. To be the cool girl. To hang on to the new friends you love to play with at recess, who are sure to leave a lasting impression on your childhood.
Sweetheart, friendship is undoubtedly one of life’s greatest gifts, but nothing is more important than self-respect. Adulthood is still many years down the road. To become the happy, confident woman you can’t wait to be, you must never stop listening to your head and heart; only they can tell you how to achieve happiness and experience joy every single day.
Ever since the day you were born, you’ve had an inner light that shines brighter than the sun. Never let anyone dim its glow. That light is yours. It belongs to you, and no one should have the right to put it out or deviate its course. Not even your best friend. Not even your teacher. Not even your mom.
Set boundaries.
Learn to say no when your heart’s not in it or when your head is yelling at you to turn around.
Believe in yourself; don’t be afraid of what other people think.
Be who you want to be, not who people expect you to be.
I know you have a good heart and a good head on your shoulders. But I’ll always be here to remind you to listen to them if you start to feel lost.
I love the person you are today, and I already love the person you’ll grow up to be.
