Advice to my Past Self by Renee

Advice to my Past Self by Renee - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

Everyone has a wish they could travel into the past and say something to themselves. It could be advice, or it could be a sweet treat to brighten up what you know is going to be a bad day; whatever it is, it is important to that person.
When I entered the fourth grade, I moved several states over and started a new school. It was weird, it was exciting, and it was scary. At my old school, I had known everyone for years and was close to them. Here at this new school, everyone had known each other for years and I was an outsider. I didn't talk to anyone unless someone talked to me first. I was shy, which my parents were shocked about because I had talked to everyone in class in my old school. I didn't make many friends.
Luckily, by the next year, some other kids had started to talk to me, and I quickly made my own little group that I talked a bit more in. Outside of that small friend group, I barely knew anyone, but by now it wasn't as weird. Thats just how it was at that school, and I hadn't been used to it before.
If I could travel back into the past and give one piece of advice to my past self, it would be to say something. Say hi to my current friends a bit sooner. Join them in playing in the field after school instead of staring and wishing you were with them. They like you; don't be scared!
I feel as if I would be a completely different person if I had talked to my friends first. These people are still my friends today; it's not as if they hate me, I was just scared to talk to them at that point in time! I would have had a much more enjoyable school experience if I had not forced myself into my own little corner.
Communication is always the key, and you should be the one to start it!