A Letter to Faith

Dear Me,

By the time you are reading this, it is November. You are probably dressed in your graduation gown, surrounded by noise, celebration, and people who are proud of you. I hope you pause for a moment. Just one moment, take it all in and  remember that a past version of you would be so proud of the growth and progress you’ve made. This is just one of the “impossible” milestones we are ticking off one at a time.

I know you're full of hopes and ambitions, and I want you to remember that education may not guarantee success, but it certainly increases your chances and opens doors you might otherwise never reach.

Dear Faith, I know that in your mind, the student era has come to an end, but learning never truly does. Knowledge is never complete, so remain a student for the rest of your life. The simplest way to do that is to read every day. Reading helps you understand the world as it is, and it makes empathy possible. When we read, we become alive in bodies that are not our own. We can never fully know what it is like to be another person, but we can come close by inhabiting the stories of others. Through their experiences, we begin to see beyond ourselves, to feel more deeply, and to understand the world in ways we could never reach alone.

Dear Faith, I urge you to try and create the world you want to live in. Minister to the world in a way that can change it. Show up for it in ways that are real, active, and practical. That kind of effort will open doors for you, and when it does, walk through them with purpose and make your mark. Teach the world that vulnerability is human, rather than a weakness and not something to be confined to one gender. Make peace with discomfort; life is messy, and sometimes discomfort opens us to growth, knowledge, and meaning. You don't need to be exceptionally good, you just need to be good enough and willing to keep going.

All over the world, girls are raised to make themselves likable, to twist themselves into shapes that suit other people. Please do not twist yourself to please. There are people who will like you exactly as you are. You are beautiful enough, smart enough, and more than enough just as you are.

Dear Faith, I know sometimes your life is full of uncertainties. There will be days when you are bursting with certainty, and days when you are flattened by doubt. Be open to changing your mind, and remember that confidence is a continuous journey, not a fixed destination.

If your degree does end up propelling you to power, remember this: if power were a jacket, it would be most flattering when worn lightly. And if you end up in a nonprofit, remember that the best kind of charity is the kind that does not perpetuate itself. Not everyone you expect to be grateful will respond with gratitude, and that is something you will have to accept.

And if your job involves travelling across the world, remember that local knowledge is always the most valuable. When you listen to it, you will be adding real value rather than simply moving through spaces.

And if you end up in a corporate world, use your influence to make systems fairer. Advocate for women to be hired as executives, not only in human relations roles, and continue to fight for fairness and equal opportunity for all.

And if you ever find yourself in power in the world of journalism, banish forever the practice of false equivalence. Just ground yourself with the truth. And if you become a writer, never trade truth for comfort. Let your words challenge, question, and reflect reality as it is, not as it is preferred. If you are glad to make speeches, remember that words have weight. Use them to inform, to challenge, and to leave something meaningful behind.

Honor the questions and doubts you have. Please do not silence yourself. There will be moments when the fear of failure holds you back. It is difficult to acknowledge fear, but you cannot create anything of value without both self-doubt and self-belief.

Wherever you are, no matter how lonely it feels, the world still offers itself to your imagination. You have to do something. You must try, try until you can do something else. Try. If it fails, try again. If it does not work out, try something else. I learned from spending a year coding that it wasn't for me. I knew it before, but trying it for a year clarified it. And that time was not wasted, it was part of understanding myself. So go forward without fear of being wrong. Go forward willing to learn, to change, and to begin again when needed. That is how you grow. That is how you become.

So as you stand at this threshold, remember this—you are not finished, you are becoming. Every doubt you carried, every moment you almost stopped, every quiet victory no one saw has brought you here. Be gentle with yourself in the days ahead. Life will not always be clear, but it will always be yours to shape.

I hope you keep choosing yourself, even when it is hard. I hope you keep trying, even when you are unsure. And I hope you never forget that you are already enough, even as you grow into more.

If nothing else, remember this: you made it here. And that alone is proof that you can go further than you ever imagined. So wear that gown with pride, little queen, you earned every moment that brought you this far.