Extracted from righting my wrongs by Dera

A letter to the younger me

​ July 4th,2176.

Dearest younger Natty.

Hello, hi little beetle, you may not believe it, but this letter is coming from
your future self. That's right - it's you, from the future!
I know you're probably wondering what made me write to you. Just so you
know, I come in peace. I understand that right now you might think you
know everything there is to know about life, but trust me when I say that
there's so much more to learn and experience.
I have seen things which, yet you haven't, and I must tell you of a truth, the
path you seek isn't worth any soul. It's a path of misery and destruction, a
path that would exploit your usefulness and leave you a useless shell, a path
that would turn you from holy to hellish. I have threaded upon it, and it
became the gravest mistake of my mortality.
My dear, truly speaking resisting such a path wouldn't be in any way easy,
forces from different parts of the world would pull you towards it. But you
must stand firm, believe and always remember who you are.
Our first initiation to that path would be sex, and from there it would only
get worse.
Dearest, I beg you to never indulge in any form of premarital sexual
interaction. It is the worst of all sins, defiling the sacredness of God's holy
temple, rendering you a dirty and unfit vessel before him.
Please, I implore you to refrain from such actions and I especially urge
you to avoid any form of relationship with Nathan, our first cousin, surely he
would come with his tricks, but I tell you flee away from him, don't even have
second thoughts about it because beneath him and his sweet talks lies our
first step into the path of hellish torment on Earth.
Now in the matters of making friends and trusting people.
when it comes to making friends, it's crucial to be cautious. In my life, I
made many friends and trusted people without giving it enough thought, I let
my friends choose me instead of me choosing them and in the end it
backfired, my friends became my foes, all my trusted companions became the
best traitors and those acts of theirs broke me and placed me in a desolated
and tormenting situation that I couldn't pull myself out.
 Please my dearest younger self, be cautious about the kind of friends
you make because the adage “show me your friend and I will tell you who you
are” really sends a vital message to all souls, I learned this lesson late, but it's
not too late for you to use this knowledge to your advantage.
I beg of you remember this, that the kinds and sets of friends you make in this
life will determine who you become, so be cautious about the friends you
choose. Let God guide you and trust His wisdom.
Furthermore, the act of trusting people so much that you could even
keep a secret with them is really risky, and can tend to turn out an upsetting
obstacle as the time goes. So please be careful who you trust, and remember
that not everyone has your best interests at heart.
Next on my list to talk about is our self-esteem, truth be spoken we both
know that our self-esteem is really low. We listen to all the words people say
about us and not just that, we also let those words get to us, yes I could still
remember when we were just 6 and Greg called us a plump pig, all through
the week we didn't come out of our room, we just stayed indoor staring at
ourself in the mirror and from then onwards, we started taking natural herbs
and tea in an effort to slim down.
See here deary, that shouldn't be the way you ever react to any form of
name-calling, especially those from bullies like Greg and Emily. Please don't
let people's words change your perspective about yourself or anything else
because if you try pleasing everyone just the way I had did, you will end up
hating the monster you would turn yourself to and at that point, people
would still have more words to say about you. So dear, try building up your
confidence, be courageous and ready to face any form of oppression or bully.
Finally, there's one more thing I must tell you before I draw by curtain.
This thing I'm about to say was something that took me a long time to figure
out. My dear, a virtuous mother like ours would never lead her child astray,
rather she would try to sculpture and mold her child into a great human, so
please never hesitate to run to our mother for help and advice. It's true, at
some point our mother might behave mean but know it that for every action
she takes it's for our own good.
In times of difficulties when everyone would desert you, leaving you to
solve life's puzzle on your own, our mother wouldn't leave you, she would
stand by you and support you with everything she owns, she would pull you
into her motherly warmth using her undying love to caress your problems
until they all become the past. So please don't shy away from her, always
relate to her in every details the events of your day-to-day challenges and
battles because only then can she help straighten you into a proper us.
Seek and crave her motherly talks, advice, blessings, and
encouragement. They are the best gifts a child can ever receive from a
mother.
 Now at this point, dearest younger self, I will place my pen in a basket full
of love, though I still have a lot of words to write, but I will let you figure out
those ones yourself. I Just pray you hearken to these little words of mine, and
by God's grace you will be able to overcome the rest.
With all the love in the world,
Your older and wiser self.