Dear Ava, An Open Letter

Dear Little Ava,

Life is fun, exciting, scary, and completely unknown. There’s only so much life you can live so try not to waste your time getting caught up in the moment. However, instead, take a deep breath and cherish each moment that you are blessed with because you never know what the next day may bring or even if you will be blessed with a new day. Everything will begin to fall into place within time so try not to force things to happen as much as you hope they will because in hindsight, forcing things ends up forcing unrealistic situations which aren’t genuine experiences, like relationships, grades, or even love. Your faith will begin to grow and flourish, and your heart will continue to fill up with an immense amount of love so that you can be a beacon of light to those around you. There is only one you and that is why God created you to be unique and one of a kind. You were put on this earth to spread love and uplift others with your warm, authentic aura of positivity and providing hope for others. Continue to stay grateful and remember to slow it down, life isn’t a race it’s a marathon, it's okay if things take a little bit longer than expected, that just means that the thing you’re going the extra long mile for will end up being the most unbelievably amazing thing for you.

There have been many highs and lows in my lifetime but, that’s what I believe is the most beautiful aspect of this blessing called life.

I’ve struggled with being diagnosed with reverse slope hearing loss in the first grade and had to comprehend re-learning to hear the same way that everyone else was able to. People misjudged me, called me names, made jokes about my hearing and overall may have knocked me down along the way. However, every single time I got knocked down, I got right back up again. Along the paths of my life, I was able to get to show the people who doubted me, how far I could push myself to be the best version of me. I’m currently pursuing a dream career of mine, I’m lucky enough to have a college education, my relationship with Christ has formed me into the best possible version of myself and, most important of all, I was blessed with hearing aids to allow me to hear.. If I got the chance to sit down and have a conversation with my younger self about where I currently am at this point in my life, I think my younger self would quite literally laugh in my face. I never in a million years believed that I would be in the position that I'm in today and that is the most exciting part about life. We don’t know where we’ll be in 10 years, 5 years, or even a week from now, which is why we all have to sit back and put our faith and trust in God or the universe or whatever it is that you may believe in. 

In conclusion, if I were given the chance to sit down with my younger self, I would simply tell her to slow things down a bit and enjoy life while you can. Tomorrows are never promised and that is more than a good enough reason to honor and be grateful for the days that you are blessed with. There may be struggles, conflicts, and storms along our path, but that doesn’t mean that the light at the end of the tunnel won’t shine upon us and create an even brighter beginning to the next chapter of our lives. People are going to judge you, manipulate, and burden you, making you feel belittled as a human being, especially if you’re someone with a disability but, that’s just going to make you 10x stronger than any of those people combined. Lastly, if you have your heart set on something, don’t just sit there, go after it! You never know where your dedication will take you, especially if what you have your heart set on will lead you to go after what you have a strong passion and motivation for. You’re going to do amazing things, you just don’t know it yet. Life has many extraordinary things waiting for you, it’s time to finally start living to get those experiences.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about me, Ava Firmani! Don’t forget to follow me @ava.firmani and @forthedeafgirl on Instagram! We thank you for all of the love and support :)