Dear 18-Year-Old Self

Be The Girl Who Took The Courage To Be Herself

What is your kindest, most generous wish for yourself in the new year?

What do you really want to create in 2022?¹

As you reflect on the good old days and write down your dreams for the new year, I thought to share a letter Juhan wrote for the LivingOS Bootcamp.

We hope this letter can give you the courage to make your first move in 2022.

Dear 18-year-old Juhan,

Remember the first time you met Charlene? Yeah, the girl who sat behind you during Model United Nation. She was reluctant to speak, and when she talked, you heard a strong accent. However, that didn’t stop your curiosity about Charlene. There was just something interesting about her. You decided to add her on Facebook and follow her digital life. Years later, she has grown to be someone you admire a lot. And your life journey began when you two met again in 2020. 

Charlene, My life journey began when we met again in 2020. You have witnessed ups and downs in my life—landing an offer, venturing into the dating game, crying over family heartbreaks, and facing my insecurities at work. You had a front-row seat to the Juhan show. There are moments of happiness and moments of sadness. Even though I have a solid record of dropping balls, what’s so precious about you is you always catch me and believe in me.

Juhan, I want you to know that you’re beyond fortunate to have Charlene in your life, and it’s time for you to catch yourself and trust yourself. You drop those balls because you were afraid of failure or to find out that you were a total loser. Please, throw those thoughts away and pick up your balls. Be the ballsy person; don’t just hide in your comfy corner. It takes courage to believe in yourself and probably takes even more courage for Charlene to believe in you. You need to take the leap of faith and follow up with specific actions. Learn to take criticism gracefully and learn to execute decisively. 

Juhan, You don’t need to be that girl. You need to be the girl. The girl who glows with love and confidence. The girl who is not afraid to try different things. The girl who grows into better versions of herself every day. The girl who knows how to motivate herself and others.

Be the girl, just like Charlene, who took the courage to be herself.

Forever Love,

25-year-old Juhan

If this letter inspires you to write a letter to your past self, feel free to pick a prompt and schedule 15min on your calendar to do so.

And if you would like to overcome your fear and design your action plan with a passionate group of people, you can sign up for the next bootcamp cohort here.

Wishing you a peaceful end of the year,

Charlene & Juhan

~I might only have one match but I can make an explosion

1. According to the research of behavioral scientist Katy Milkman, new year resolution, contrary to popular belief, is a pretty great motivation/change engine.