Be Beautiful.

Dear Ari, Joyce, Keryna, Sofia, the other Sofia, Mia, Mila, Rafa, Claire, Chesca, Carina, Olivia, Michelle, Eve, Daena, Jess, Katy, Bella, Selina, Josie, Lucas, Issy, Yshas, Hudson, Taylah, Kirsty, Chris, Brenna, Mary Paige, Sophie, Kate, Becca, Russell, Saanya, Dani, Pia, Beth, Liz, Ali, Samantha, Peyton, Laura, Gianna, Ria, and about 10 other people whose accounts I love but whose names I do not know,

Number 1: Yes I had to go through my following list to write down all of your names. And they all have capital letters.

Number 2: Spell check doesn't recognize half of your names.

Ok now I'll get to the "lettery" part of this letter.

I wrote this so I could get all of my thankfulness to all of you out. And I can be sappy sometimes, and yes, it sucks that I even have to preface this with that statement, but I'll try to keep it on the down-low for the post.

Anyways...

Dear friends I've met on Twitter, you're all very young. Most of you aren't 13 like me, but you're still really young—the stories of your life just beginning, the first few chapters already filled with people who love you, places you’ve explored and experiences that, unbeknownst to you, have already begun to shape your thinking and strengthen your character.
 
I am beyond blessed to know so many amazing people, each of you so special in your own unique way. And today, I felt like I needed to write to all of you at once, which is really different for me. I write letters to my friends really often, but it's always been a letter for them alone. And now I'm writing to at least 40 people at once and it's a little bit intimidating. But I'm doing it anyways. Now listen to me, guys.


Right now while you're reading this, I hope you have a giant list of people in your life who have modeled what it means to be a beautiful person. A beautiful person is kind, hard-working, caring, curious about life, strong yet vulnerable.  Today, I want to tell you about something else that makes a person beautiful—something important.

Each of you was born with a light inside of you—the light that makes you who you are. All of your talents, all of your gifts, all of the joy and love and enthusiasm you have to give the world; your smile, your laughter, your ideas, your heart is all embodied in that light. Your light is unique to you. There is no other light in the world that looks exactly the same as yours.

So, please. Please. Don’t change that light. The world needs it. Don’t dim it, don’t wish you had a different light, don’t let yourself believe that your light isn’t good enough, don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you need to change. A beautiful person shines their light, just as it is. Please be you..

The world is a great big place with ideas and voices and images and opinions. They can inspire you or they can crush you. Let them inspire you. Take what feels good and ignore what feels bad. Don’t let anyone ever make you feel that your worth lies in anything but your light. It’s not your body. It’s not how much you accomplish. It’s not your grades or your job or your friends or how many people like you or how many followers you have. The most beautiful people know that their worth lies in the most precious thing they have to offer—being yourself. Shining your light.

Looking back, I can’t tell you how many times I've felt awkward, and since I'm only 13 I know there'll be countless more times. Sometimes I felt too loud and spirited around girls who were shy and alluring. So I shrank into uncomfortable quiet to be more like them. Lots of times I felt embarrassed for who I was and wished I could change things—things like my body or my clothes, what I was good at, what I wasn’t good at.  I wish I could go back and tell that girl just to be herself—that the happiest and most beautiful girls are the ones who shine their light and don’t apologize or feel ashamed for who they are. I wish she knew that she was perfect just the way she was and that she could affect the world and those around her most greatly if she just believed that she didn’t have to be anything but herself.

I love all of you so much. I love you just the way you are. I felt your light the moment I followed each of you, and I’ve been blessed to see that light continue to shine through my timeline or my DMs, or tweets we send each other. You are all different in beautiful ways, and I cherish the things that make you unique. I just want you to value those things as much as I do. The most solid, comforting, truthful, reliable thing in this world is what’s inside of you. Unlike money, you can’t lose it. Unlike appearance, it doesn’t fade. You were born with it. You will die with it. It’s you. The you I’ve loved since the day I met you.

Please.  Love that you.  Be yourself.  You will do great things just by being you.
Never forget that.
I forever celebrate you, support you and love you.
Love, Naomi