A letter to my 14 year old self.

Dear 14 year old Kate Mak,

I am writing to you nearly 20 years later with what I have experienced and learned. I have words of encouragement and wisdom for you.

Life is a beautiful journey and you will pen many new chapters of adventure, wonder, love, happiness and success. But there are dark chapters ahead as well… fear not, you will learn from them and even though they may seem like they will never end, they will. And in the most proverbial sense of it all, you will become stronger from them all like a phoenix that rises from the ashes, forged stronger by the fires.

I want to tell you just how amazing and beautiful you are. 

Kids (and adults) can be so mean sometimes but you can be so hard on yourself as well. Love yourself harder and know that sometimes people say things without much thought behind it. I know that you’ll look in the mirror and sometimes you won’t feel good about yourself and to be honest, even 20 years later, you’ll still be really critical of yourself from time to time. Loving yourself is work that you have to continue to do every day for the rest of your life. Please remember, looks are surface level and do not measure the quality of who you are and what you bring.

Follow your dreams, Kate. 

Don’t worry about what people might think or may say and please don’t let fear stop you. The most successful people are the ones who never stop trying. You will live what feels like different lifetimes as you continue to find your voice in the clutter of many while searching for the things that make you insanely happy and passionate that you don’t even mind waking up at 5am to do it. And when you love what you do, success comes easily because the hard work doesn’t even feel like work. Feed back into the passions that ignite the fires within so that they burn so bright, the fears are all but a whisper lost in the background. Listen to your heart, it knows the way. 

Your intuition is always right.

Your heart, body and mind is wise beyond words and it will always give you hints to what you should do next or how to navigate out of tricky situations. That gut feeling, that little voice in the back of your head, the tug in your heart, the je ne sais quoi… the feeling you just can’t quite put your finger on. Listening to your intuition early on will save you from many things. Trust in yourself more and learn to quiet the chaos so you can’t hear this better.

Travel far and wide.

Pack your bags, don’t worry about the money and travel. In about 20 years, you will travel to almost 200 cities around the world. You will get to see some of the greatest wonders of the world and experience things so exceedingly beautiful that it feels like it was taken from a poem. You will make lifelong friends along the way in your travels and they will teach you so many new things. Your life will be rich and full with the mantra that you make enough money to live and to leave whenever you want to wherever you want.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown

The path that is already cleared and cut in front of you, is not your path. Most of the things that are worthwhile and life changing are hidden in the unknown. Please don’t be afraid, when you enter the unknown you will meet influential people (even for a fleeting moment) that will help you learn something, reveal something and guide you. In the same way, when you are older, you will return this favour by helping and guiding others. 

Broken hearts will heal. 

Your heart will be broken a few times by the time you reach my age by boyfriends, friends and co-workers and it will feel like you can’t trust again or that your heart has iced over. Not everything lasts and that’s OK. There’s a beauty in being broken because that’s where evolution and change happens. Remember, the seed must come completely undone before it can blossom. Don’t forget to lean on your friends and family… you’re always so stubborn and you’ll always want to do everything yourself. Sometimes, we need help and it’s ok to ask for it.

Stand tall 

Before you are 30 years old, you will tumble into a toxic relationship that will leave you in the ashes as a shell of a woman. You will promise him your silence in protecting his reputation at the cost of your own wellbeing and your dear delicate heart. There are warning signs along the way but you will be bullied into staying and it will come to a head when he lays his hands on you. It will be terrifying but at that breaking point, you will stand tall and walk away. It will take some time for you to heal and to find yourself again and to trust again but when you do, you will become a beacon, a voice of hope and a hand in the darkness for those who are leaving abusive relationships or healing from those relationships. You will stand tall for yourself and for others who cannot stand. 

Never stop learning.

You will continue to build, foster and cultivate your mind and you’ll do it by constantly learning something new. The moment that you stop learning is the moment that you stop evolving and the evolution is so important so that you can be a better version of yourself with every day that passes. Challenge yourself to be more, to be better to be your very best and just keep pushing yourself to understand more about random things but also of life, of friendship, of love, of the world, of history and of creativity.

Be brave, be bold… 

I love you.