10 things I'd tell my 15-year-old self
I've always thought that I knew it all, especially as a teenager. I look back on who I was ten years ago and sometimes want to laugh and sometimes want to shake that girl furiously. It's amazing what we learn in life. Obviously, I do know everything now, but then, not so much. If I could go back in time and take my 15-year-old self out for coffee, I would first tell her not to drink so much coffee, but there are a few other things I would tell her that would hopefully make the road ahead a little easier, like:
1. Eat Something. Like many a teenage girl, food was my arch nemesis. To this day my friends still talk about the thirteen baby carrot and two rice cake lunch that was the mainstay of my adolescent life. On the flip side, when I did eat, I ate complete garbage. If I could change one thing about my adolescence it would be the importance I put on food.
2. Stay Classy. There will come a time when talking about how much you drank and when and where you threw up will no longer be a badge of honor. The earlier you realize this the better. Sexy does not come from the Junior Skanks of America collection at Rainbow Shops: it's internal. Talking about other people does not make you better than them. Class is a true measure of maturity--you're not mature yet, but you'll get there.
3. Your Mom is Right. Oh, this is a hard one to realize, but it's true. And it's not because she garnered a grandiose instruction manual upon entering into motherhood, it's because she is a woman and she's made all the same mistakes you are currently making. Listen to her.
4. You Can't Make Everyone Like You. They won't, and you won't like everyone either, get used to it. The sooner you stop trying to be the person everyone likes, the sooner you'll find people who like you for who you really are. Insert Hallmark card here.
5. Your Class Rank is Not a Measure of Intelligence. I promise you that ten years from now you will have no idea what your SAT score was, that you will never-ever use SOHCAHTOA in real life, and that your ability to recite excerpts from the Iliad on command will be completely useless. Your intelligence as an adult will be measured by your actions, the decisions you make, and sometimes the books on your bookshelf. Note: Hide Chicklit before dinner parties.
6. Boys. Stop freaking out about them. Yes, they like you. Yes, they will like you. Yes, you will have boyfriends. You will know how to French kiss and you will close your eyes without thinking about it. They will do all sorts of stupid things to get your attention in the future, but, right now, they're 15 too, and they've got their own growing up to do.
7. You'll Get Over It. You are a teenage girl and therefore by nature crazily, stupidly, whack-jobically dramatic, but I promise you that whatever it is--crush, grades, not getting the lead in the school play--you'll get over it.
8. Your Friends Are Going to Be Grown-ups Too. One day your friends, who look to you for the entirety of their social life, as you do them, will have other friends. They will have boyfriends, husbands, children and jobs. You will too. You'll lose some friends down the road, but you'll keep the ones that matter.
9. Don't Be So Nice. Yes, I get it you're sweet and young and nice and want everyone to like you. You think that this will get you far in life, and it will get you some places, but you need to be strong enough to ask for the things that you want, demand the things you want. Grow a backbone. This doesn't happen overnight, it takes practice. Start now, for the sake of your future self, start now.
10. Enjoy this Time. Like I said, you're very dramatic right now. But all that drama is a little bit fun, right? Enjoy it, enjoy being young and silly and sowing your quasi-wild oats (wilder oats will come later), enjoy the lack of responsibility and the net that is there to catch you when you fall.
Honestly, a lot of these things are things I would tell myself now too. You know, just as a reminder. If you could tell your teenage alter-ego a thing or two, what would it be?
MORE FROM ELASTIC WAIST AND SELF:
