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5 Things I’d Tell My Teenage Self
You’re going to be okay, kid. But maybe don’t do everything the hard way.
Ah, to have a time machine. I’ve often fantasized about showing up in my old bedroom circa 1977 to knock some sense into my teenage self. Would she listen? She was smack dab in the era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, about to make a whole raft of mistakes. She didn’t know it — and probably wouldn’t believe it — but some of those mistakes would have lifelong consequences. Some she would keep making over and over again.
She wouldn’t listen to her parents. She wouldn’t listen to her teachers, or her guidance counselor. She wouldn’t listen to the shrink her parents insisted on. But maybe she’d listen to me, her future self. Maybe if I just held her, and told her much I loved her, and then looked her in her stubborn eyes and gently but firmly spoke these five truths. Would she listen then?
Being popular means nothing.
Oh honey…this is where it all began. You were in 5th grade when you realized there was a clique of popular girls, and that you weren’t one of them. You studied the clothes and hair of the Kathys, Hayleys, and Stephanies, but you could never tame your frizzy mane or fill out your Levi’s cords in quite the same way. You had glasses and braces and you were really…
