A letter from May 27th, 2017

Dear FutureMe, At this time in 2021, I'll be in med school. Or that's the plan as of now. What could I possibly say to my twenty-one year old self. I just have a lot of thoughts about my career choice. Medicine, surgery specifically, seems surrealist. See, I like the thought of it now, have been for a while. Even before I chose that's what I wanted. And for many many many years before that, dentistry was what I wanted. For the longest time. I did forget about it between the years, but eventually I came back to it. Now I ditched it for something shiny and challenging and totally badass. (I'm sorry for the language Ms. Strunk but it totally is.) And it's not that I don't welcome the challenge because I do and I'm expecting it. What I don't want to happen is that halfway through residency I decide I don't want what I've been succeeding it at. I just feel like I'm too indecisive for such a career choice. I'm also not artistic enough to not choose STEM. Maybe that’s a dumb reason and I’ll regret it 4 years from now. Either way, I’m going through with it. You’ll be turning 22 in a couple of months. I hope your health is better than when you were 17 and didn’t take care of yourself the way you were supposed to. We both know why I’m in such a bad place right now and why my health is the way it is. I hope you’ve been able to make some progress. Any progress would be good. What about swimming? Ballet? What happened with those plans? 17-year-old you would be so disappointed if you didn’t follow through with that. Any new, obnoxious hair dyes lately? 17-year-old you hopes so. What’s your current hair color count? Please let it be more than ten. Is Ari & Dante still your favorite book? You must remember how much it made you cry. Don't underestimate YA. Are you still on your quest of finding as many LGBT+ historical fiction books as possible? Don't give up. It's been very rewarding so far. And yes, this is a 17-year-old is giving advice to a smarter, more mature version of them. You were always a little pretentious. You know what to do. Do your best. Finish school. Be loud and involved. Remember that a person never stops learning.