Don’t make the people at Taco Bell angry. They are making your food, remember.

Never think you can keep even the slightest thing in the dark. Because sooner or later, someone will find out and expose you.

Don’t stress over things you can’t control or things in your past. Your past is your past. Let it stay that way. You’ll never get anything done in the future if you can’t let go of some things.

Keep God first.

These are lessons I wrote in a letter to myself, the last English assignment of my sophomore year of high school.

Instead of wrapping my brain around cultural imperialism, I drifted into a sea of contemplation and mere existence.

I thought about where I was and how I got here, in both the physical and emotional senses.

People have their highs and lows, and I am no exception to the rule. Like most people, I believe in fighting those lows and constantly working toward being the best person you can be. That means learning, changing, growing and developing.

So, of course, 19-year-old A’Niya appreciated the moments where she gave a dry laugh after looking over the sophomore year letter. I saw myself then and compared that to the person I see myself becoming.

So, like I said, I’ve been working my entire life to grow into the person I’m meant to be, and I’ve stumbled – lots of times, I’ve stumbled.

So what makes this time different? This time, where I’ve been determined to repeat my motivational mantra while water splashes on my face every morning – where I’ve been determined to complete a random act of kindness every day to a stranger, without expecting gratitude.

This time is different, because I can read the letter. I can sit down in my present self, acknowledge who I was before and be okay with that. I think society has the idea of growth confused.

Somewhere, along the way, I incorrectly accepted the notion that I had shed my old self and thrown away the dead layers.

Well, I am not a snake. I am a person who realizes that instead of shoving away the old forms of me, I should acknowledge and accept them as stepping stones to who I’m meant to be. We’re all so worried about where we’re going to go and how we’ll get there that we don’t take notice of the journey along the way. How else are we going to measure our growth if we just throw the progress away?

Instead of shoving the guilt down and ignoring her face, I can face her and genuinely mean it when I tell her I’m happy for her.

A’Niya Robinson is a political science sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].