To My Elementary School Self

Dear Dom,

First of all, I want to let you know that you will eventually gain a few good inches in height. You have to wait for a few more years but try not to worry about it too much because it will happen. Yes, you will consistently get teased for it and for having a pumpkin-sized head too. Your self-esteem would take a huge hit but you will be fine.

This is not to minimise the effects that it would have on how you relate to others as you grow older. Though you will gain friends along the way, those experiences will slowly tilt your inclination towards isolation and introverted tendencies. You will always be tagged as the quiet one, that guy who would just smile and not talk unless spoken to. Despite all of this, you are going to be lucky for not experiencing any extreme feeling of sadness nor loneliness. Those experiences would teach you how to genuinely enjoy your own company and to be okay just minding your own business.

You are terrible with girls though. Joanne, the girl who you have the biggest crush on, exchanging mushy letters with her doesn't count. Those flowery letters would go on for two years, but you will not have enough courage and poise to string coherent sentences when you're actually around her.

Jerard, your best friend, the person who heavily influenced you on how to be organised with everything. The one who practically taught you the handwriting that people would mistake for computer printed texts, you will eventually lose touch with him. Between hours upon hours of playing Counter-Strike and geeking out about which Pokémon would beat who, you were inseparable, but you will be strangers to each other as time goes by.

This is all just to tell you that you are in the most uncomplicated period of your life. It's okay if you don't have an impressive answer when someone asks you what do you want to do when you grow up. You are going to have a lot of time to figure that one out. So try not to rush yourself into adulthood.

Your experiences might seem inconsequential right now, but know that a lot of those things are the seeds of where your beliefs and values would ultimately stem from.

Love,
Your Future Self