NOTE TO YOUNG SELF
I was always considered “the sensitive kid”. It felt like nobody else
was feeling the way I felt. In Singapore today, we’d call that kid
“emo”. I hate that word. It implies that there’s something wrong with
being emotional. And it was like I could just see myself as that kid of
nine years old, standing right in front of me and feeling all this stuff,
and I wanted to say this to him.
Hey you
And hey me
Now don’t be
Afraid to feel
I’ve been you
Became me
It’s just part
Of being real
I know your friends don’t think you’re like them at all
I know you’re not great
At catching a ball
But hey you
They’re not you
And you can’t
Be them at all
I know how it feels to feel
Too much, too much more than
Anyone else in the room
There’s not
Anything wrong with you
Just pray it stays with you,
Keeps you in tune
‘Cause each time
Your heart breaks it shatters
You’re lying in tatters
Dripping and stained
But each time
It stretches and bursts and
Gets stitched back together
It’s grown through the pain
And the next time you love, you’ll love bigger this way
Your heart will get stronger
Don’t shrink from the pain
You don’t have to be small
To fit in their frame
Don’t be ashamed
Of your biggest gift yet
So hey you
And hey me
If I could tell you
One thing it would be
That one day you
Will have someone to say you
Will love with your whole heart
And that heart is big
So hey you
Just be you
It’s all you
And it’s better this way
And it’s better this way