Dear Evie,

You have such a spark. You have a fire inside of you—a wild, beautiful fire—that makes you so spectacularly perfect. You have so much spunk and sass. You are going to go many places. You are going to change the world.

You don’t have to change the world for a while. Be a kid first, because it’ll be gone all too soon. In the blink of an eye, you’ll be in high school—still a child, but it’ll feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Cherish the moments you have right now. The carefree moments where you can play outside, get dirty, and dance in the rain. You can enjoy the small things that older people don’t notice.

You have so much time to be young. But in ten years, when you’re my age, you’ll wish you had more. You’ll wish you had paused for a minute and appreciated everything a little more. That’s why I’m telling you now. Remember to take a minute and look around; take a minute to see everything you can with your innocent eyes.

As you get older, life gets harder. I want it to stay as easy as possible for you. This is my advice: live your life. Don’t live anyone else’s life. Do what you want to do. Be who you want to be. Don’t conform to society’s standards of a female. Be you. It’s hard to stay true to yourself all of the time, especially in middle school and high school when everyone is pushing you to be the same as the next person. Don’t be like everyone else no matter how much you want to fit in. Don’t fit in. Stand out.

I know that it’s easier said than done. Trust me, I know. But if you ever don’t feel like you, there are so many people that love you that you can talk to. We all want you to be you because staying true to yourself is the best thing you can do.

Another piece of advice: find your person. Find the person that you trust the most. It could be a family member, your best friend, or a significant other, but find that person. That person will be your lifeline. I’ve found my person, and she is the person I tell everything to. She’s the person I cry to and laugh with. I trust her with my life. Having somebody that you can confide in is such a relief during high school. The struggle is real, and you will need to vent. You will need to cry and laugh. It will feel so good to know that you have a person you can tell everything to.

My last piece of advice: whatever you do, give it one hundred percent. Do everything the best that you can. If you do the best you can on everything it will be so much more enjoyable. You will feel like you fulfilled something. You will feel accomplished.

Give everything your all. Live life to the fullest. Enjoy it. You only get one life, Ev—make the most of it. Be you, find your person, and give it one hundred percent. But also, be a child first. Don’t grow up too fast. Stay your spunky, sassy, carefree self for as long as you can before life gets in the way.

Sincerely,

Your bestie, Alex