Write a Letter to Your Younger Self Without the Clichés

The letter-to-younger-self genre mostly produces motivational poster text. This one does not. It names three things you would not have believed at the time, skips the reassurances, and stays specific to what that age was probably like. Honest rather than kind. Worth reading after.

Write a letter to me at age {YOUNGER_AGE}. The letter should tell me three things I would not have believed at the time but that are genuinely useful to know. Avoid: 'everything happens for a reason', 'follow your dreams', 'you are enough', and any advice that sounds like a motivational poster. Use first person. Be specific about the situations I was probably facing at that age. Be honest rather than kind. Keep it under 300 words.