As part of National Care Leavers Week, Lancashire County Council hosted an exhibition titled 'Sincerely You' which featured letters written by Care Leavers, to their younger selves. 

Below is a letter that Kriss penned to his younger self, which was featured in the exhibition. 

A letter to my Younger Self

You are going to be ok. 

Life has many twists and turns, but embrace each moment as these are the things that teach you a little more about you, and the world around you. 

In life, you will find the end of things is much greater than the beginning. Yes, beginnings have potential – but many people begin stuff they don’t finish. When you end something, that is the point when you can measure your handiwork, sum up the lessons you’ve learned and take the best bits into the next part of your life. 

Do not envy those around you. They have issues that you cannot bear. You have been well equipped to deal with the stuff that is going on in your life, and the most important thing you will find is not what has happened to you and around you, but the story you tell about that stuff. 

Trust yourself, and use your imagination to look at the good stuff – not the bad stuff. It really is all just made up anyway, but the emotion you attach to stuff will determine either a life you embrace and enjoy, or a life you endure. 

Make bold decisions, talk about your dreams, go with the flow. That includes those people who will come into your life because what you say, think and do makes them feel good about their journey too. Play with those people for as long as it makes sense to you to all be together.

Finally, know you too will be a father one day, and those young people will look to you to be a light and a lamp in their first steps. They will never understand what you have been through, but they will be grateful that what you have been through has given them the start you never had. You will be very proud as you see them dig roots in you, so in turn they grow, adorn wings and fly. 

And yes, I will be with you to the end of the age.

A note from Jane Hilton, Leaving Care Development Officer, Lancashire County Council. 

The launch of the Sincerely, You letter exhibition took place on October 25th, we chose this date as it marked the start of National Care Leavers week 2017. We invited a mixture of people to the launch, all of the young people that wrote a letter were invited plus other services within the local authority and other voluntary services such as Barnardos and Childrens society. Three young people were very brave and wanted to read out their letters to the audience, this proved to be a very moving and inspirational moment. In total we had 57 letters and I have to say that everybody took their time to read every single one. The purpose of National Care leavers week is to raise an awareness of the needs of care leavers and how we as a local authority and a community respond to their support needs. I personally think the letters have provided this insight and awareness and the feedback has been fantastic.