I recently celebrated my 20th birthday, and letting go of my teenage years was bittersweet. While I am going to miss those years of fitting into size zero jeans and having everything taken care of by my parents, I am also happy to leave my teens behind. Being a teenager is not easy–pimples fill your forehead and back, it feels like the end of the world when you don’t have a date to the dance, and high school kids can be a cruel clan of horny animals. Here are 13 things I wish someone told me when I was 13.
1. Be brave and have courage. Everyday during my sophomore year of high school, one of the most attractive and popular junior boys at school would walk by me in chemistry and call me a freak. My face would turn bright red and I would look to the ground. To this day, I wish I had the strength to stick up for myself and tell this immature boy to get a life. If you don’t want to stand up for yourself, no one else will want to either.
2. Be nice to your mom. We all have bad days, especially when we have no one to eat lunch with or come home to find a sticky note that says “loser” on our backs. Unfortunately, our moms are often at the receiving end of those days. But, don’t take your day out on your mom. You would be surprised at the amazing advice she can give and all the secrets she can keep. While friends come and go, family is forever.
3. If you have to tell someone not to repeat something, then just don’t say it. I spent way too much time in high school stressing about things I said when I could have saved myself all that energy if I had just kept my mouth shut.
4. Eat what you want. You’re a teenager! There is no need to be on some crazy “fruit and vegetable only” diet. This is the one time in your life when you can eat what you want without getting cellulite.
5. Don’t pick your pimples. Save yourself the scars that result from picking acne because unlike pimples, scars don’t go away.
6. Think about what you say before you speak. Words can hurt. You never know the effect your words can have on someone else.
7. Kill them with kindness. The best revenge you can get is by killing your enemies with kindness– it gets them every time and takes much less energy than devising some master plan to make their lives miserable.
8. Have confidence. Walk with your head held high. Watch–confidence attracts.
9. Don’t obsess over social media. When you’re home watching a movie with your parents and everyone else is posting cute pics on Instagram and hashtagging their inside jokes, it can make you feel down. But trust me, the perfect Instagram picture does not mean the perfect night.
10. Don’t let a boy’s opinion define who you are. Boys can be immature in high school and it definitely does not feel good to hear that your crush ranked your looks as a 4 out of 10 or that the cute guy you made out with last night is telling people he doesn’t remember it. Often when guys are in a group setting, they say things they don’t mean in order to impress their friends. Roll it off your shoulder– there are tons of great guys waiting for you in college who will like you for who you are on the inside and the outside.
11. Educate yourself outside of your high school curriculum. Follow the news and read books that interest you. A world exists outside of the high school jungle and it’s nice to know a thing or two about it. And, reading before bed is the best way to fall asleep.
12. The popular kids in high school are not necessarily popular in life. Being invited to a party by a popular kid can feel like the best thing ever. But, high school is some weird alternate universe where the people who will get attention when it actually matters go completely unnoticed.
13. Pick yourself up and move on. I know that the smallest things in high school can feel like your world has been turned upside down. But, sometimes our world is turned upside down. Life is not easy. You have to learn to pick yourself up and remember that this will eventually pass.