Letter To My 16 Year Old Self

#LettertoMyself

Hello everyone!! I am Akari and this would be my first time participating in an official event in Anime amino. I am not that good at writing good content but I will try my best.

My entry is given below.

Dear my 16 year old self,

A lot has happened to you already, and a lot will happen to you in the future, before you find a somewhat stable place. You might be wondering about who I am. Well, I am your future self, the one you thought wouldn't exist because of the darkness that has clouded your mind.

I am writing this letter to you, to show you how much you have grown and learnt and also, gained some valuable lessons from something, you never would have you would watch. Anime. Yes, I am talking about the same anime for which you judge the boys in your class.

Now before you scoff and stop reading this letter, I would request to you to give this letter a chance, because it will show you the strength you have gained over the years.

Shall we go through the lessons together, my mean 16 year old self?

First up, we have the Apothecary Diaries. You might be wondering what this anime is about. So, this anime follows the story of a teenage girl, who finds herself serving in the rear palace in ancient china, after being kidnapped while finding herbs for her medicinal experiments.

The female lead here is Maomao. You can see that MaoMao here is wondering what was going to happen in her future. It is a very simple, yet a complicated question.How many times have you found yourself doing the same?

As different situations kept on coming your way, you wondered what would happen next.

1. Stop overthinking and live your life

But here is the thing, unlike Maomao, you go deeper into that rabbit hole and keep repeating the same question again and again.

You don't have to overthink about your future, you know? Things are not the brightest for you at the moment, but you will persevere. Sometimes you will fail, sometimes you will rise high but what matters most is that you will make it through.

The key lesson your future self learnt here is that she doesn't need to overthink and feel anxious over it. She can wonder about the question but move on and live her life the way she wants to.

2. Being curious is okay.

Another lesson your future self learnt is that it is okay to be curious about everything. People around you have often shut you up for asking too many questions and being curious, especially someone closest to you. But that's not how it is. Thrive on your curiosity, and learn new things.

Maomao represents curiosity and your future self is following her. She is learning and she is searching for answers everyday.

"Hori-san instead of saying 'where are you going ', do you mean, 'please don't go?"

- Izumi Miyamura

A beautiful rom-com anime that teaches your future self the beauty of human relationships, friendships and the quirks each person has. Let's dive into what you learned in future.

1. Learning to express your emotions the right way

You were never good at expressing your emotions. You feel one way and you show it in another way. You never really put efforts into improving in this aspect. But your future self will, when she finds the person who makes her understand the importance of it. Just like how Miyamura understands Hori, there will be someone who understands you. For this person, you will start learning. You will do your best to improve on your words, and think before you talk.

2. Value healthy friendships

You are someone who always struggled with making good friends, who would you, no matter what and be good to you. Looking at the friendships in Horimiya, your future self will learn about that you don't have to change yourself to fit in. The right people will accept you and be weird with you together.

So this animation here isn't anime. It's made in China so it is called donghua. This particular donghua will change your perspective on time, in future.

"Idiot. I have said, let the past be, because we can’t change the past. Don’t question the future, because the future must be changed by us."

- Lu Guang

The quote above describes it all. You always focus on the past and make things harder for yourself by thinking about the what ifs. But what you need to really think about is the future. I am contradicting myself, aren't I? But here is the thing, when I am telling you to think about the future, I mean it in a good way. It doesn't have to be 'what if I fail this', or 'what if they judge me' way but the 'I will make the things I want, happen' way. Work hard for your future and drop your past regrets and stop mulling over the mistakes.

The future you, has started doing it. She rarely ever thinks about her past and only focuses on what to do for her future so that she can secure her dream career and other dreams. So, please don't be so harsh on yourself.

I hope these lessons were meaningful to you and know you will grow in future. I wish you were more gentle with the people around you but know that you will lose quite a lot of that harshness in the future, and that's why I won't reprimand you, because you will learn.

And as for me, I promise you that I will keep working hard to achieve the things we both want.

Sincerely,

The one, who wants you to be happy.

So, here ends my clumsy attempt of participating in the event. I hope it wasn't too messy or illogical.

To the one who read it to the end, thank you for reading. Please take care of yourself and make sure to stay hydrated!

Until next time,

Akari.

headers & blog cover credits:- ♡