Dear Esther,
Here you are, about to start freshman year. I know — you’re nervous but excited. Lots of things are running through your head at the moment. After all, this is high school, and everything is changing.
Entering Choate, it’s inevitable that you’ll be encouraged to try a myriad of new things. You’ll be told on numerous occasions that freshman year is the time to experiment, fail, and learn. This comes as no surprise. But I know that it will still be a message rather difficult to internalize. After all, when faced with a challenge, it’s hard to reflect on the bigger picture and simply “enjoy the process.” Throwing yourself into the new, the different, and the unknown will seem terrifying.
But if there’s one thing that you really should take into heart, it’s that the scariest experiences just happen to be the most formative ones. Putting yourself in those situations opens up more opportunities to be humbled and awed by the amazing people around you. You’re lucky enough to be in a place where everyone is encouraged to pursue her passions. You’ll find it thrilling to see your peers grow and develop their unique expertises.
You’ll dance, where you’ll discover that doing the cha-cha is likely not your true calling; you’ll enroll in film photography, the most fulfilling activity one can do while spending countless hours in the darkroom in the Humanities basement; and you’ll join clubs and activities you’ll grow to love, especially the ones you didn’t expect yourself to join in the fall — these are precisely the things that’ll make your year that much more enjoyable.
Things won’t be easy all the time. Take cross country, for instance. You signed up for it over the summer completely on a whim, with absolutely no idea of what it was actually going to be like. You’ll be utterly shocked after discovering that you’ll start with a “casual” three-mile run on the first day of practice. It will seem even more impossible when you’re faced with that struggle up Mount Doom for the fifth time in practice. You’ll be completely bewildered, slightly lost, and very, very tired.
Nonetheless, you’ll recover. You’ll even find an odd sense of fulfillment as, on one late fall evening, you’re caught in the pouring rain while dragging your exhausted self back to Nichols. That feeling of uncertainty — of being on the precipice — thinking, “This is a new adventure, altogether” will make each new experience worthwhile.
Plus, the people you’ll meet — the team of passionate, talented runners you’ll get to work with — will get you through everything. Even long after the season’s over, you’ll remain eternally grateful to have been a part of that caring bunch of friends.
Embrace the activities that you aren’t confident in, the ones that really challenge you. Throw yourself into that run. Double over laughing every time your photos develop strangely. When you mess up the stag leap that everyone else in dance class knows how to handle, treat it as a learning experience. Try anything and everything. This is when it all begins, Esther. Make the most of it.
Love,
Esther
