2017 was probably the craziest year because of everything you’ve been through, but I’m here to tell you that I’m so proud of you that you made it this far.

You have grown into a different person than last year, and that is more than enough. Your struggles and heartbreaks have shaped you to be kinder both to the world and most importantly, to yourself. This was the year you finally found the courage to let down your walls and fall in love again, or this could have also been the year you felt lost and got completely overwhelmed with sadness. Whatever it is, you never gave up and that is such an amazing accomplishment. You have dealt with a great amount of pain of losing friends, but you met some of the most amazing people whom you now consider as friends.

You accepted that sometimes, you lose people along the way but you find yourself and that every loss is worth finding yourself for.

So this is a letter to you this 2018 to guarantee you that this year, you are going to slay and own it. You will say goodbye to every moment in 2017 that was full of overwhelming anxiety and sadness and heartbreak and emptiness. You will take the lessons from 2017 with you along with the moments filled with happiness and laughter, but you will leave behind everything else.

This is going to be a selfish year because you deserve this so much.

This is going to be a year filled with so many good memories that it will overshadow the moments where you will be filled with doubt and confusion and most importantly, the moments where you will have to endure failure. This is going to be the year you start over, for real, this time.

This isn’t going to be a year you just say you are going to own, and not have your actions meet the expectations of your words. No, this time, everything is going to be different. YOU are going to be different.

This year, you will be more than your anxiety and most of all, it won’t be a year where you just exist. It will be a year you let go of the toxic people in your life. It will be a year of healthy relationships and friendships. It will be a year where you will be open to the possibility of so much love in your life, whether it’s a continuous love for someone you’re dating, the possibility of a new love or most importantly, love for yourself.

This will be the year you will forgive yourself for every mistake, every wrong decision you wish you could take back, every heart you broke, every broken promise, every moment you were on the verge of giving up on life, every moment you chose to settle for less, every moment you choose someone else over yourself, every bad grade, every hurtful thing you did or said to yourself; everything.

This will be the year you will no longer feel guilt over choosing yourself. This will be the year filled with your ambition and goals in your life. This will be the year you choose happiness over everything else.

This will be the year you stopped letting fear control your life and be brave enough to follow your heart instead. This will be the year you stopped beating yourself up when things don’t always go as planned. This will be the year you became true to who you really are, despite what the world wants you to be. This year will be filled with courage and bravery and ambition and love and happiness and laughter and self-discovery. This year will be the year you will remember for the rest of your life as the year you had enough courage to change your life.

2018 will be your year, you just have to believe.