EMILY, 16

Dear me,

If you are reading this, then today’s date is the 22nd of March 2020 and you are preparing for your upcoming GCSE exams. Tomorrow the prime minister will announce a national lockdown to fght the recent Covid-19 pandemic and reduce the spread of the virus, so I thought I would ofer you some advice for the next couple of months, because, like it or not, life as you know it is going to change. Whilst we are on the topic of change – which, ironically, was the brief for your drama exam – one thing you will notice right of the bat is the amount of spare time you are about to receive. A whole six months of it. I know it sounds like a dream come true, but it can turn into a nightmare if you’re not careful. Te second thing you will notice is that you will procrastinate, a lot. Also, you know that hair that took you so long to grow out, and that you said you would never cut of? One missed hair appointment ended up with you cutting your hair twice and then colouring it fourteen times, so have fun with that. Was it worth it? I’ll let you fgure that one out on your own. Even though this lockdown period is good for you, growthwise, you miss out on one of the most important things in your life: your friends. Suddenly, you go from seeing your

friends every day of your life, going to dance for hours and constantly being surrounded by people who you adore with your whole heart, to lying on your bed, in your room, alone. Te plans you made for the next three months of your life are completely derailed. Your GCSE exams get cancelled. Your motivation drops and you fnd yourself in the place you most feared you’d end up. Afer a while, the distance from your friends becomes too much and you fnd yourself replying later and making people you’d talk to for hours on end into complete strangers, and that’s okay. One thing you learn to accept is that life isn’t always perfect, and it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows and that’s okay. Remember, this isn’t ‘the end of the world’ that people will make it out to be, but if everything starts getting too much and you start to feel overwhelmed, think about this time in your life as a transition, a new beginning. You won’t know what it is – as I’m writing this now, I’m not sure I do either – but we will get through this together no matter what happens.

Sincerely, me. P.S. Don’t message your ex, because you will get hurt, and make sure you let go of people who are holding you back. Your heart will thank you later. x