Dear Little Girl,

Don’t believe the hype. Search for what”s true, because when hype is gone, that’s all you’ll have left.

People won’t always like you for what you stand for, but that’s never as painful as not liking yourself for not standing for anything. Stay real. It’s not an easy task in a world full of fiction and fantasy, when a perfect cosmetically constructed face is more in demand than little quirks and it’s easier to just agree with everyone than say what you mean.

Yes, it’s scary. No, it’s not easy. But the sooner you free yourself from what society dictates, from peer pressure and from your own ego, the sooner you will learn to love and appreciate, well, everything.

We may never completely get there, but the little glimpses we get sure make life worth it.

Lastly, don’t compare yourself to celebrities, models and stars. They aren’t real, in that what you get to know is their on-camera persona, and what you see is the work of very skilled makeup artists, hair stylists and Photoshop.

And you know what? They wish they had someone telling them this too.

-E