First, prepare to have your heart broken in three years by Metallica's Black album. You won't believe how bad they're going to suck. Also: 95% of what you worry about never happens. Don't give in to your pressures: jobs, poverty, bad people, negative idiots, the wait, the hassles, the relationships, losses, terror. Stay on your own path and don't worry about the rest of them. Travel overseas, avoid serious relationships for ten more years. Don't mistake your freedom for failure by contrast with others. Most people like to be told what to do, how to live, and they like to follow. That doesn't make them right about you or themselves. Change your mind about tattoos because in 20 years everyone and their moms will have sleeves. Have a good time with life, and at the same time keep your head into your work, keep doing your work. It might take over twenty years, but keep pushing. Stay smart, stay aware. Write. Stop at nothing.

Focus. Keep your eye on the future. Don't just talk a big game. Actually do it. Study, work hard. Go get a job that matters. But it's okay to still have fun. You are going to have a lot of fun this year, but you're going to be lonely too. A lot is going to change. Embrace it. Stick to who you are. Love yourself.

Smile for the hell of it.

Don't give a damn what people think of you, it's how you view yourself that actually matters.

Be wild. Don't always do what you're told.

Take chances and don't regret them.

More love, less hate. Stop letting everyone get under your skin.

Relish in the days you have alone, for later years will be filled with many family members.

Family first, you'll miss them when they go.

Learn from the elderly while they can still teach you.

Don't get discouraged when life doesn't go how you think it should have, God always has something better for you ahead.

Believe what you want to, other people's faith doesn't matter.

Be compassionately curious, have different options but be respectful enough to not criticize if it's not the same as your own.

Last of all... Don't force love, those who walked out on you weren't supposed to be there long anyways, and they were paving the way for real love to find you.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to not fear heartbreak. I will not lie to you, your first breathe without him will sting like shards of glass in your lungs and a bullet shot through your heart. Your second, third, fourth and fifth breathes will burn so bad they bring tears to your eyes and force a grimace across your face. Eventually, the pain subsides and you're brains clear enough to think. Your thoughts will wander back to the times you two laid in bed, stuck in a web of utter euphoria as you gazed into each others eyes and as warmth trickled down your spines. Your thoughts will find their way back to the very first day he kissed you and said, "I'm in love with you." Tears will well up in your beautiful eyes but the stabbing pain is replaced but a unforgiving feeling of longing. Longing for his voice to whisper those words of comfort one last time. Longing for his arms to wrap around your shoulders and pull you against his warm chest. Now my child, this part is tough to hear and even harder to do but STOP. DO AS I SAY..

Stop thinking it's your fault.

Stop looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking you aren't beautiful enough.

Stop looking at your phone hoping to see him call or text you.

Stop waiting for him to say it was a mistake and that he wants to be with you again, because he won't.

Repeat to yourself that just because two people love each other it doesn't mean they are meant to be together. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, "I'm beautiful, inside and out." Go outside and surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Don't you dear shut people out of your life. You will eventually find a boy who makes you smile and blush just by looking at you in the eyes. You will find another boy who makes butterflies multiple in your stomach and adrenaline course through your veins. This person, this new love will help you discover more about yourself than the last. I can't promise you the next heartbreak will hurt any less, but I CAN promise you that you will be better equipped to weather the storm and be ready to push yourself to start again.

You will never learn as much about yourself as you do during and after your first real heartbreak. If you never allow yourself to love and get your heart broken, then you will never know what you're capable of. You will never know just how much you can truly handle. You will never know how to react when you're pushed past your limits. You will never really know you're whole self. You will never reach your full potential or help another reach his or hers. You will never be the person you are meant to be.

So my best piece of advice I give to you (my 18 year old self) is to never fear heartbreak.

Worry less about the future and make the most out of the present.

Don't pursue happiness. Pursue a meaningful life and through that, you will find times of happiness.

Travel wherever and whenever you can.

Get out of your comfort zone. That's when life will be most interesting and rewarding.

Take risks. Follow your gut. Quiet your mind. Give yourself the freedom to fail.

Make sure you spend time each day with someone who makes you laugh.

Help someone else every day.

Make people smile.

Make people laugh.

The bad times will pass. How you handle them will shape you.

Make as many memories as you can with your grandparents because you will miss them terribly when they're gone.

Show your parents respect and kindness. They deserve it.

Know that it will be ok because you will make it so.

Stop.

Breathe in.

Not everyone you meet is your friend. Learn to be skeptic. Sadly, blood is not always thicker than water. The world is filled with pungent bitterness in every corner and the acidity will attempt to consume you.

Stop.

Breathe out.

Not everyone you meet is your enemy. Learn to trust. Seek to be curious, not judgmental. You won't take the traditional path; the passage you choose will teach you many lessons. Dream spaciously. Set sky-high standards. You will achieve any goal, big or small, as long as you stick to it.

Stop.

Breathe.

Just breathe.