Here Is What You Need To Know

More than physics, more than geography — though these are important, too — here is what you need to know.

You need to know that you deserve things. You deserve the best things. You need to know that good things will happen to you, and you should not take these for granted. Don’t expect the grandiose. Don’t expect perfection. Too often we overlook beautiful moments because they are flawed. Life does not come with a hair and makeup team. You cannot call “Cut!” Take these moments for what they are, and recognize that perfect does not exist, but this is as close as you will get.

You need to know that someone loves you. Be it your parents, your best friend, or your dog — someone out there loves you unconditionally. But you should love yourself unconditionally, too. Know that you are worth it. Know that your stretch marks, your scars, your blemishes, and your insecurities are all minor puzzle pieces, creating the masterpiece that you are. You need them to complete yourself.

Know that the right one exists for you. But know that he will not be that boy that only calls you after 2 AM. Because this boy will never touch anything more than your body. Understand one thing: you are full of discrepancies. You can let someone have your body, but not your mind. The boy that only calls you after 2 AM will feel these discrepancies. He will feel in your kiss that sentence you’re holding back. He will sense in the arch of your back all of the stories you haven’t told him. He will taste on your skin all the places you have been without him. Know that this is okay, but not as good as it gets. Understand these discrepancies exist within you, memorize them, so that you will recognize the day they disappear, and in whose arms they are laid to rest.

Understand that you are made of the same material as the stars, and there exists within you galaxies full of undiscovered worlds, each of them more beautiful than the last. Know that your mouth can start fires. Know that you are a thunderstorm with skin.

You need to know that it’s okay to be happy. Know that you can laugh until tears stream down your face, even when life gets hard, even when you don’t think you can sink any lower.

You need to know that those who leave us are never really gone, for we carry them around in us, tiny little memories, spirits, to guide us through this messy life. Know that death is never quite the end. Whatever you believe, you must believe that. Believe that your loved ones that you laid to rest and cry over every night are standing around you, holding your hand.

Know that nothing will ever be easy. There will be times where you think it is, but life has a way of overcompensating for these moments. Easy does not exist. But that’s okay, because you are a thunderstorm with skin. And you will destroy whatever gets in your path.