“Dear 14-year-old me,

Hello gorgeous human. It’s your 30-year-old self-writing to you from 2023. Crazy, right?! Firstly, those fire engine red tips you’re putting in your hair look GREAT. Do not pay attention to what anybody says. You look fantastic!

Secondly, I know you want to quit doing ballet classes, but I insist you keep going. More on that later. . .

I have so many cool things to tell you. About yourself and the life you’re going to lead.

You know how every day you go to bed and wish for a career as a performer. You dream about it all through the night, and then you wake up and plot how to make it happen. Well, I am so happy to tell you that you will indeed have a career in the arts. With hard work and a level of dedication so many people will laud you for, you actually make it happen! AAAAH!!

However, at the moment I know that you are going to school every day and people are vile to you. You can’t walk between classes without being gawked at or yelled at. Simply because you put one foot in front of the other with a slight flare. Because you bat your eyes so beautifully in a way no other 'boys' around you do. But this has nothing to do with you. It feels like it has everything to do with you, of course it does, but it doesn’t.

You told your ex-girlfriend that you had started ballet classes at your dance school. Your jazz teacher recommended it to improve your technique, and you were immediately scared of people finding out in case they picked on you. Your fear is valid. Because you told Steph, she broke up with you, and then she told people about it.

Adam Noviello

I know how horrific it has been for you since. You want to quit dancing all together. You don’t want to leave your room some days. You wonder if it’s worth being yourself when you are being told by strangers how horrible it is to be you. But in 2023 you never think about those people. In fact, it’s only a few years into high school that those people will fade to the background noise. You have more important things on your mind. Focus on what’s ahead. And in all seriousness, the ballet classes will serve you well in your career. Keep at it.

I am so happy to tell you that the things that make you a target for baseless hatred are actually your superpowers. You will go on the most incredible journey to discover and love yourself. You will become a professional actor. I will write that again in case you missed it. A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR, who wears gowns and high heels on red carpets. You’ll do a whole bunch of musicals, plays, cabarets that you write and produce all by yourself, you will star in a feature film that you co-write, and then eventually you will achieve your all-time dream of releasing your own music, where you will have a #1 song on iTunes! (I promise, I am not lying).

You are exceptional exactly how you are. Your specialness is what will make your life so fabulous someday soon. Allow me to name drop, I think it’ll make you smile. You’ll work with the likes of Rhonda Burchmore, Todd McKenney, Simon Burke, Caroline O’Connor, Tony Sheldon and Natalie Bassingthwaighte, to name but a few! Plus, you recently played your own songs to a festival crowd of thousands. These are only the tip of the iceberg on how cool life is going to become.

You've got this. Don’t give up. I am so proud of you.

I love you,

Your future self.

PS. Spend some extra time with Granddad. It doesn’t matter why, just spend as much time with him as you can.”