Thursday, November 4, 2010

Letter to Me

Just as I posted my ho-hum Thanksgiving blog, I saw a post on my dashboard and just HAD to do this! I'm not on Twitter, so I wasn't aware that today is "Tweet Your Sixteen Year-Old Self" day. A blog I subscribe to decided to turn her tweets into a blog, and invited others to link, so I am going to go with it!

 
Wouldn't you LOVE to be able to talk to your "old" self? Or wouldn't you have loved to hear from your, er, older self when you were sixteen? I've always liked the Brad Paisley song, "Letter to Me" for that reason. Of course, then the "thinky" part of my brain goes all Back to the Future and thinks changing anything would alter the future and end up making everything you said invalid. Yeah. Welcome to my brain. And people wonder why I am anxious and worrysome?  :)

 
Anyway. If I could relay some messages to my sixteen year-old self, it would be this:

 
  • None of the boys you're fond of are worth your time or tears. They all turn out to be ordinary shmucks who wouldn't have made you happy anyway. Everyone looks good at sixteen. You'll laugh one day when you see them and remember that you were crazy about them. You are a deep person, and you need someone who will embrace and understand that.

  • Don't be in such a hurry to grow up. You'll be better off if you marry happily at 35 than to settle at 22. You'll be a better mom at 30 than 25. You'll be a better person if you figure out who you are and what you want before you settle down (you think you know now, but you don't).

  • You don't really want five kids. They hurt. They make you fat. They are expensive. And one will be the best thing to ever happen to you anyway.

  • Nothing that happens in high school will matter in ten years. Make some good memories, learn from your mistakes, and move forward, not hanging on too tightly to anything from these years.

  • Sometimes your mom has a point, and even though she'd deny it, she speaks from experience.

  • You are not fat. In ten years you will say you'd do anything to have this body back. Enjoy it. Love it. Flaunt it.

  • Try not to be a people-pleaser. If you learn now not to say what people want to hear, and do what people want you to do, it will save you a LOT of heartache, and it will save you some rebellion when you're oh, say, 27. Just saying.

  • Don't worry about keeping everyone's phone number and current mailing address in that little book. They'll invent this thing called Facebook and you will be able to look them up by name :)

  • Stop trying to fit in and be friends with people who don't accept you. Nourish the friendships with those who accept you the way you are, because those are the ones that matter most.

  • Don't join in when the other Girl Scouts prank Jodi. She will be your boss and very good friend one day ;)

  • Stay true to yourself. Don't put up with anyone who treats you like crap, even if it's family.

  • Finally, you're pretty even though you don't think so. You're strong even if you don't think so, and you will learn to be independent. I'm proud of who you are.

 
What would you tell your sixteen year-old self?

8 comments:

  1. Andrea... love, love, LOVE this post. I'm pretty sure it is my favorite. And I've read them all. :)

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  2. I loved this post! And Hi, new reader!

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  3. Thank you both! I was inspired reading the others and loved writing this one :)

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  4. Thanks, Chrissy :) I miss your blogs!

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  5. Awesome post - SO much I relate to, but mostly the one about not being a people pleaser. :)

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  6. Ha! Although the pranks are always fun stories from Tan-Tar-A :)

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  7. Thanks, Chibi. I felt the same when I read yours!

    Jodi, they are the best stories. And I remember the first year we went without you it just wasn't the same, because the REAL feud was always between you and Tab, and the whole thing just seemed quiet without it! :)

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