Dear future self,

You are now a freshman at the university of Longwood. You are currently majoring in business with a concentration in management, you are also studying criminal justice. I have hopes to be a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program Manager/Administrative Support Supervisor. Although I worry about the transition in schoolwork from high school to college, I am very exciting to begin this new chapter in my life. I am so lucky to have already found some of my favorite people that I will have for the rest of college and friendships that will last a lifetime. It has been very hard leaving my best friend from home and my family, but I am adjusting very well and hope to continue to. I look forward to meeting many more people. Am I still enjoying college and adjusting well to the new environment?

The one thing I am most worried about while adjusting to college is the amount of work I will have. Balancing academic, social and personal life I feel will be the hardest part. I have always been told 2 different perspectives on college. One of which being it is so hard; all I have time for is schoolwork and it is so much different than high school. The other being it is not as bad as it seems, I have so much time to do the things I want, and I have more of a social life than an academic one. By the end of the 4 years which perspective did I have on college? I am confident that I will find a healthy balance and will make the most out of any situation.  I am curious to know if I am still just as passionate about my career or if I have changed my mind.

I hope to have improved on prioritizing myself and focusing on the things that are truly important. I hope I find time to do the things I truly enjoy and that will allow me to reach my life’s goals.

 Lastly, I hope to be the happiest and most successful I can be by the end of the next 4 years at longwood.

09/12/24

Dear future self,

How are you doing? Currently you’re a freshman at Longwood University studying Bio/Pre-med. Is this still true? I hope so because I am so excited to see what else is waiting for us. But I know you have good judgement, although I may be a smidge biased, so I know you’ll do good in whatever else you choose. What has been your favorite part of college over these past few years? Was it everything you imagined? You had such big dreams for your college experience, hopefully you stuck with them.

Have you found any clubs or groups to get involved with? You were so excited to experience college life, so hopefully you found some way to live that out. Are you still friends with the people you came here from high school with? Did you find some new friends? You love talking to people and showing your care for others, so I really hope so. Which brings me to asking, are you still the same people loving person you grew up to be? I really hope so, that’s your favorite part of yourself.

Looking back on your past four years, what was your favorite class. Probably not math, but maybe that changed about us. Maybe we like math now. Do you still want to be a Radiologist? We’ve changed our mind so many times that I wouldn’t doubt it if you said you changed it again. If so, have you done any internships or started working at a hospital to gain some experience? How are you liking it? Hopefully you can look at yourself in the mirror and see the person you couldn’t wait to see when you were me, just getting started.

I know you’re doing great, because we never knew what we were gonna do if we didn’t. Hopefully by now you’re in medical school, learning everything you dreamed to know as a kid. Im proud of you, you did it. Keep on going until you can say you’re truly happy with the outcome. No matter how many times you have to restart. You’ve got this. I hope I get to answer these questions with all the answers I wish I could know now.

From your current self,

Kaylie.

Dear Darion,

College has made your life very overwhelming because of the different responsibilities at hand. You are probably experiencing anxiety, nervous breakdowns, and trouble sleeping because you are worried about passing your classes. Although, you are stressing about college, god has put you on a journey to do accomplish goals that you did not believe that you could ever accomplish. You knew that embarking on this new challenge in your life would be difficult to maintain; however, you are staying true to yourself and not giving up because you want to change the lives of people in a positive way. If you stay in college and work hard everyday to get good grades you will be fine.During your freshmen year of high school, you did not think that you would do well in any of your classes; however, you managed to passed them with flying colors because you stayed true to yourself and never gave up. Though college is tougher than high school, you are still staying true to yourself and not looking back because you were put here to further your education. It’s okay to feel stressed and struggle in college because no one is perfect and life has its up and downs but learning from your mistakes as you go will better you for future challenges that may arise. Four years from now, you will take what you have learned and make a great career out of it. Not only will you make a great career out of it but you will come up with a device that will change the lives of people around the world. I know that you think that changing your major from graphic design to computer science was not worth it because of the extra classes that  you have acquired; however, it will be worth it in the end!

9/12/2024
Dear Future Self,
I want you to read this before you walk the stage to get your degree. Congratulations on all your accomplishments. I hope you had the best time in college and made memories that will bring a smile to your face when you look back, and are proud of yourself. Right now, I am a first-year student and to tell you the truth, it feels like I am in a summer bootcamp, and that I will be going back home in a few days. I guess reality has not hit me that hard yet. This should be our new tradition to write letters to our future selves. I want you to check off things in the list I will make today.
First, I hope you make your health a top priority, nothing should be put before this. I hope you got rid of your unhealthy habit of eating junk food and are now eating healthy. You should be good at drinking water and exercising daily now. I would be happy if you do accomplish these goals. Second, I hope you kept your academics a top priority because you are getting your degree. I will assume you did, and I am so proud of you. I know I suck at communication but as a communication studies major, I believe you are much better than me now. Unfortunate circumstances might happen that will cause you to change your major. If you did end up switching majors, I am glad you went with your heart and did what made you happy.
You are now preparing to enter the workforce, please do not overwork yourself. I want to travel the world, and I don’t want you to forget because I know the workforce can sometime be hectic, and people slowly start to push their dreams away and I want you to promise not to let our dreams go. I know mom is proud and will most definitely have a huge celebration dinner. I want you to write her a letter to thank her for all the support she has given us through our journey. Remember our childhood promise to work hard so she doesn’t have to worry about anything. Now it’s your job to start making that promise a reality. In life you only need one person to believe in you to be unstoppable, so I want to tell you I believe in you, and you better make me proud.
Have a great graduation and tell mom that 19-year-old Kare loves her and is thankful that she was the one chosen to be our mom.
Good Luck and love You!
Kare

Dear future self, You are currently a Freshman at Longwood University studying communications. As I am writing this I want you to think back to your Freshman year and think about if you still have the same friends you did your Freshman year or if rushing was as stressful and nerve racking as you thought it was going to be. Some questions I am excited to answer in the future are, did you stick with communications or did you change majors? I know now that switching majors has been a thought lingering in the back of your head as a Freshman. Did you get into the sorority you wanted too or did you find one that was a better fit for you? Did you meet your people in college and do you still talk to your high school friends? Do you miss home as much as you do right now? Some accomplishments I hope we achieve in the future as I am writing this now, September 5, 2024 are graduating college with a 4.0 GPA, being in Greek life and being an active participant in clubs, and most importantly finding your group of people. I have many questions but most importantly did you make the most out of your college experience? Did you enjoy it? Did you get involved in school activities? Whether it be clubs, Greek life, or sports? All of those things that you went into college knowing were important goals for yourself. Were you able to achieve them? Do you have any regrets? Did you end up loving Longwood like you thought you would? I know now as I write this I say my classes are not hard and my professors are nice, did that change? Did it get more complex or did you meet any professors you didn’t make a connection with? I hope that I get to answer these questions with the most thrilling answers in the future.

Dear Daniel,

Hopefully by now you have graduated and are on the career path of business within our family company. I hope you have experienced all of what college has to offer. I expect that you have experienced the nightlife and fun that Farmville holds. I hope you have experienced meeting new people and enjoyed taking in the different cultures that come together in one place to learn and grow. I really, really hope you tried new foods from different cultures to broaden your view on foods. I hope you experienced the new academic experiences that college has to offer. I hope you joined the club baseball team and continued playing. I hope you built a team bond with the boys from club baseball. I hope you got involved in Greek life and joined a brotherhood. I hope you experienced basketball games and other sporting events to get the full college experience. I hope you found new things to enjoy with this newfound freedom, like trying a new sport like golf or going walking on the high bridge trail. I hope you have made connections to the business world to help the family company. If you decided to go back and work at the family business, I hope you landed an accounting job. I hope you have gotten your CPA license, Class A contracting license, and real estate license. I hope you have gained the confidence to speak in a public setting and in front of others. I hope you gained relationships with professors and other faculty to help with business opportunities and referrals. I hope you got internships at accounting firms to further your understanding on how to apply your accounting knowledge in a work setting. After saying all this, I hope you excelled, I hope you have succeeded in leaving college and didn’t have one regret about anything. Lastly, I hope you succeeded in finding yourself in a time of such knowledge and exploration.

Sincerely,
Your past self,
Daniel

Dear future self,

 

You are currently a freshman at Longwood majoring in elementary education and so far you are loving it. Between the nice professors you’ve had so far and the amazing people you have met. A few questions I have as you look back on your freshman year are did you try things out of your comfort zone, or meet new people. Did you go out often on the weekends or did you become a homebody? Some things I’m wishing for you now are that you graduate with a high GPA, making the dean’s list, and most importantly finding the group of friends who make you laugh the most. Do you still talk to the girls from highschool or have you since drifted apart? Did longwood live up to all of your expectations or did it fall short? Did you really keep the dream of being a teacher or did something else interest you? Did you live at home all four years or did you move out? Freshman you are currently sitting with friends all doing homework and laughing talking about plans for the upcoming weekend. Some more things I have to know are: did you get involved in any clubs or Greek life during your time at Longwood? If you did end up living on campus, what is dorm life like? From what I’ve heard now it doesn’t sound like its for me, maybe an apartment would be better. If you got involved in Greek life, what’s that like, did you find the one for you, or did it not live up to your standards either? How many times did you say you would start early on your homework and then wait until the last minute to finally start on it, or did you fix your procrastination problem all together?