“Hindsight is 20/20”
We have all heard that line, all used that line, and all agree with that line. Although I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, I can’t help but wonder if I could have saved myself from some of the hard times if I knew then, what I know now. If I could go back in time to change things about my past, I would change my mindset in a heart beat. Here are sixteen of the things I would tell sixteen year old me, if I had the chance.
- Don’t revolve your entire life around your high school boyfriend, or any boyfriend for that matter.
- Try out for the cheerleading team, you know how badly you want to.
- Confide more in your best friends about what’s going on in your life, bottling everything up is not healthy.
- Don’t. Get. Those. Tattoos. Just don’t. Please, don’t.
- Try harder in school. We both know how smart you are, stop giving the smallest amount of effort.
- Stop staying up until 3am every night. Really though, stop it.
- Find your voice and USE IT. It took you way longer than I would like to admit to start sticking up for yourself.
- Stop letting the fear of failing stand in your way of chasing your dreams.
- You will find a healthy relationship one day, don’t settle for anything less.
- Spend more time with your friends, seriously.
- Stop buying cheap clothing from Forever 21 every week, lol, I still do this (from other stores), but maybe if someone told me to stop, I would have by now.
- That feeling? You keep feeling? That you don’t understand? Yeah, that’s called anxiety. You’ll be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder in a few years and it will all start to make a little more sense. You’re not crazy, promise.
- Spend more time with your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc. because one day in 2020, something crazy will happen and you won’t see them for a while. It will make you realize how many missed opportunities you had to spend time with them.
- Hug your dog Baby a little extra in 2013, actually, hug all of your pets as often as you can for the next several years..
- Take college prep more seriously, don’t wait until the last minute to apply, and don’t let the fear of the unknown keep you from attending the college of your dreams. You’ll regret it for at least 10 years (I’ll let you know if this ends up being longer).
- Learn to adjust your life to the absence of toxic people, don’t continue to adjust your boundaries to their disrespect. I promise, your life is much better without them, even if the thought of it feels impossible now.