Dear Miranda,

Hi Miranda. It’s me, older you. I want to talk to you about the stress and anxiety you feel a lot of the time. That’s probably really overwhelming for you, isn’t it? It must seem like you have a whole lot more anxiety than most of the people around you. Even though this makes you feel different, that’s okay. Everyone is different and struggling in their own ways, just not everyone shows this.

Even though this anxiety is very intense now I want to give you hope for the future. I promise, promise, promise it will get better. Something great about getting older isn’t just getting to choose how much candy you can eat, getting super cool braces, getting to drive, and getting married. It also means you become the owner of your own life. You can like and dislike whatever you want; you can choose to study anything you want; and you can go anywhere. It also means you will understand yourself better. I know this anxiety doesn’t make much sense now. It’s mostly just a feeling and sensation. But in the future you will be wiser and better able to have thoughts about your anxiety. You will understand how anxiety works, what can trigger it, and how to control it.

That’s the main thing I want to talk to you about, Miranda: learning to control your anxiety. This isn’t something I expect you to do alone. You don’t need to fight all these feelings and thoughts alone. I really think you should tell someone about them, and I mean really tell them about it like how intense the anxiety is, some of the fears you have that don’t make sense, and how you keep having to do these weird and scary behaviors that you can’t stop. Really, Miranda, please go tell someone. Anyone you feel comfortable talking to. Your mom, your sister, even a teacher, anyone. Just please don’t keep hiding all of these. You don’t deserve to carry these burdens around. I care about you and I hate to see you suffer like this. Telling someone and verbalizing your feelings will help reduce some of this tension and anxiety you are storing up in huge quantities inside. And the best part is there are really nice adults out there who can help make this anxiety and the fears and the weird behaviors go away. I know, it sounds like a miracle but it’s true. These miracle workers really exist.

So please, I beg of you, even though it might be scary or it might be embarrassing, please just go tell someone how you feel. The change that will occur in your life as a result will be worth it.

Yours truly,

Miranda