Dear 10-Year-Old Me: A Letter to the Girl Who Didn’t Feel Enough

Dear 10-Year-Old Me,

I know you're trying your best to fit in.
To be liked.
To not take up too much space.
To not say the wrong thing.
To not be “too much” of anything.

I remember how you used to compare yourself to the other girls. How you’d look in the mirror and wish to change parts of yourself. Not because you didn’t love who you were, but because somewhere along the way, you were made to believe that who you were wasn’t quite right. Not pretty enough. Not smart enough. Not loud enough, or maybe too loud. Too sensitive. Too shy. Too different.

And I just want to say……I see you now.
And you were never too much or not enough.
You were always just right.

The truth is, the world didn’t always know how to love you the way you needed.
But that doesn’t mean you weren’t worthy of it.
That doesn’t mean you weren’t already love.

You didn’t know it then, but everything you were, your curiosity, your big feelings, your wild dreams, and quiet thoughts, they were all magic.
And just because someone else didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

I wish I could go back and wrap my arms around you.
I’d whisper to you that one day, you'd grow into someone who would learn how to love herself. Not because someone told her how, but because she remembered how.
Because she’d finally stop trying to be someone else.
Because she'd realize, there was nothing wrong with who she was to begin with.

And so, to every 10-year-old girl reading this:

Please don’t ever dim your light to make someone else feel more comfortable.
Don’t shrink yourself to fit a space that wasn’t built for your brilliance.
Don’t quiet your voice just because someone else doesn’t understand it.

You are not here to be perfect.
You are here to be you.
And that is always enough.

With all my heart,
—The woman you became (and the girl who still lives inside me)

If this letter spoke to you, share it with a girl in your life who needs the reminder.
Let’s raise a generation that knows her worth.
With love,
Hong – Founder of Her Mirror Project