Leilani Reyes

Words of wisdom

I received a journal at my first communion from one of my mother's co-workers. I've had this

diary since May 31, 2015, which means I started writing when I was about ten years old. This

journal was made to have little affirmations to motivate one to write and express themselves. In

this journal, my ten-year-old self was good at documenting dates and communicating what the

environment felt like at that time. Although I have written so much, to this day, I am still not the

best writer that would be able to make it to the New York Times best-seller list. But I will

continue to work on that. My writing was not the prettiest, and this journal is busted, but it was

my coping mechanism throughout my early adolescent life. In this journal my favorite

affirmations were “Be who You wanna be”, “Life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful”,

“You must be the change you want to see in the world”, “The happiest people don’t have the best

of everything, They just make the best of everything”, “Chase your dreams, you might just catch

one”, “We can change the world. It is in your hands (literally) to make a difference”, “No matter

what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world”, and “It always seems impossible

until it is done”. Which I always still come back to now.