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How to Rig The World In Your Favor
Lessons for my 19-year-old self.
My teenage years were hard.
All my early school days, I was the loner, the philosopher everyone considered “weird.”
Then, I turned 12 and found a girl who thinks exactly like me. Her ideas gave wind to the fire of my imagination, and together, we’d spend hours talking in school, another hour talking over the landline in the evening, and multiple minutes later spent writing and reading letters to each other.
We met every day, and yet, our stories never ended.
We had so much to share and this made our love the purest.
On my 15th birthday, I had to leave the school for “better prospects elsewhere.” Or at least, that’s how my parents convinced me.
I was a shy teenager, and the already-forged bonds of friendship in the new school left me lonelier than ever. I craved for meaningful conversations, and felt myself unworthy of friends.
My teens were spent wallowing in self-pity. I never made any real friends. All the people I connected with, I couldn’t relate to their thoughts half the time. It felt like I was destined to be alone.
I wasn’t smart enough, pretty enough, sporty enough, open-minded enough, talented enough.