Dear Freshman Me - Letter to My Younger Self

Dear Freshman Kyle,

Right now, it’s August. You’re standing outside the front doors of the high school trying to act like you’re not nervous. Your backpack feels heavy. Your schedule is folded in your pocket even though you’ve checked it like 20 times already and still don't know where you're going. You keep looking around for familiar faces because deep down, you’re scared of ending up alone.

And honestly

You don't know it yet but the people who are closest to you now will disappear and you will grow closer to people you didn’t even know.

I know it sounds tough

But it will all be apart of the growth as a person

Some of your friends leave the school, some find different friend groups through sports. Some drift away without any reason.

The second thing is this: the next few years are going to change you more than you realize.

Not because something terrible happens. Not because your life falls apart. Actually, it’s kind of the opposite.

You’re going to grow up.

At first, freshman year is going to feel exciting. Friday night football games. Walking crowded hallways feeling older than you actually are. Sitting with friends at lunch and thinking this is how the next four years will always be.

But high school moves fast. Before you know it, people start leaving the school. Some transfer. Some move away. Some just end up going on different paths. And every time somebody leaves, it feels weird for a while. Like the school loses a little piece of itself.

You’ll sit there looking around realizing how different things suddenly feel.

Not worse.

Just different.

At first, change is hard for you. You like familiarity. You like knowing exactly where you fit in. When people leave, it forces you to step outside your comfort zone, and honestly, that scares you more than you admit.

Because freshman year, confidence is not your thing.

You stay quiet around people you don’t know. You replay conversations in your head after they happen. You care way too much about embarrassing yourself. There are moments where you’ll want to say something funny or start a conversation, but instead you just stay silent because it feels safer.

But somewhere along the way, that changes.

Not overnight.

Sophomore year and junior year slowly pull you out of your shell. You start realizing people actually like being around you when you stop trying so hard to be perfect. You become more comfortable talking to new people. You stop second guessing every little thing.

And the crazy part is, you won’t even notice the growth while it’s happening.

One day you’ll just realize you’re walking through school differently.

Head up.

Talking more.

Laughing louder.

Feeling like yourself instead of trying to disappear into the background.

The school itself will change too. The older you get, the more you understand that high school is temporary for everybody. The seniors you looked up to freshman year will graduate before you know it. Then suddenly you become one of the older students yourself, wondering where the time even went.

That part hits hard.

Because nobody really tells you how fast it all moves.

One minute you’re nervous about finding your first class, and the next minute you’re realizing some of your best memories happened in random hallways, classrooms, and classrooms you once felt intimidated by.

So here’s the advice you need to hear now:

Talk more.

Don’t let fear decide who you become.

Be friendly to people even when you feel awkward doing it.

And appreciate the people around you while they’re still there, because high school changes constantly whether you’re ready for it or not.

Most importantly, stop thinking confidence means being the loudest person in the room.

Real confidence is being comfortable with yourself.

You’ll get there.

A few years from now, you’re going to look back at the shy freshman version of yourself and barely recognize him. Not because you changed who you are, but because you finally became comfortable showing people who you’ve been the whole time.

So walk into that building tomorrow with your head up a little more.

You don’t know it yet, but some of the best years of your life are about to happen there.

And you’re going to miss it one day, but it will all be more than okay.