NOTES TO MY 17-YEAR OLD SELF: CHOOSING POSITIVITY AND LOVE
''Last year, I had the strange and magical opportunity to talk to my 17-year-old self again. It happened by surprise, while interviewing a teen who’d recently finished chemotherapy for cancer. I too fought cancer as a teen. Like me, she’d asked some of the biggest questions life has to offer: Why me? How can I be my best even after life’s obstacles? How do I live without fear, without anger toward things or people that have hurt me?
Here was a girl just like me, just like you, the world ahead of her, but with a deep understanding of just how lucky she was to have it. I struggled to explain to her that even the tough times of growing into womanhood would ultimately be worth it. In the end, all I could tell her is that whether it’s fighting cancer, choosing a career, or falling in love, there will always be reasons to be scared. It doesn’t mean you have to act from fear...''
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