As 2016 is pretty much here and I am just days away from saying goodbye to my teens for good (eeek, so scary!) I decided to reflect on the past few years of my life and all the things I have learned along the way. I am aware that many of you guys, my readers are teenagers so I decided to offer you advice now. These are all the things I have become wise about over the years and don’t worry, many of them I learned the hard way and because of endless lectures from my mum! Life is full of ups and downs but it’s all part of the adventure 🙂
Dear 15-year-old me and all my readers,
1. Secondary School isn’t real life but I’m hoping Sex and the City is!
Remember that “popular” group you couldn’t stand? That girl that was mean to you? Your Irish teacher you were terrified of? Nah, neither can I. At the time it seems like everything, but trust me, I couldn’t tell you what half of those people are doing now. School doesn’t last forever and if people think it does they are going to get a serious wake up call when they come in contact with the real world. Be you, do you and don’t worry about what other people think because the negative ones won’t be in your future! School isn’t ideal, but your future can be.
2. Don’t become trapped
If you feel you’re in a relationship that doesn’t feel right, leave. Whether it’s friendship or a romantic relationship, it should make you feel happy and secure. Don’t worry about ‘Oh god does this make things awkward for everybody around us?’ and end up putting up with them for the sake of everybody else. If they make you unhappy, you will become unhappy in yourself which will be worse in the long run. I’ve learned that not everybody is supposed to be in your story forever, some people are just small chapters that teach you a much bigger lesson. So unfollow them on Facebook, delete them on Snapchat, stop dwelling on the coulda, woulda, shoulda and just move on.
3. Get off that bloody fence!
If you’re constantly wondering where you stand and if he likes you then the truth is, he doesn’t deserve you anyway. No matter how many times you defend him and his actions that hurt you, he still won’t fully want you. A real man makes you a priority and will chase you until he gets you, you won’t have to wonder if he likes you and only have him come running when you start moving on! And trust me, I know that hurts, but learn from my mistakes because I’m only truly realising it this year. There is nothing wrong with you, you are absolutely beautiful and amazing and if he doesn’t realise that then it’s his loss and save that beauty for the deserving man who will!
4. You are fabbity fab
In a huge world of social media, supermodels and societies idea of perfection, you can sometimes lose yourself for a little bit. Just because you don’t look exactly like a Kardashian, doesn’t mean you can’t take the world by storm like they have! There is only one you so find yourself, cherish yourself, praise yourself and show the world everything amazing that YOU have to offer.
5. Do what YOU love!
For some reason, as humans we seem to take negative comments on board more than positive ones. I love blogging, writing and making YouTube videos but I have had to deal with people knocking me. I’ve had a guy making fun of one of my videos on Facebook and I’ve had nasty comments written about me on Twitter. I’m not going to lie, some of this actually pushed me to tears at first but then I meet girls out who get excited about meeting me and tell me how much they love my blog which is amazing and I then realised that for every person that hates you there are 10 more that love you… and hey, all press is good press!
6. Trust your gut feeling
Bad vibes? Good vibes? Trust them. I 100% believe in my gut feeling and the majority of the time I can immediately tell what I think of a person or situation from the vibes that I get. Everything happens for a reason and only you truly know what you want in life so listen to what you’re telling yourself.
7. Follow your dreams
I don’t mean this lightly. Pretend your dreams are a boy you like and channel that determination. Text them, get your friends to help you get them, think about them constantly, never give up, give it your all! Even if the boy chases don’t always go to plan, dreams do if you want them badly enough! Get off your bum right now and do it, you never know what magic could happen until you try.
8. It isn’t about fashion, it’s all about style
Your personal style is a way of showing the world who you are with simply a glance. Wear what you want and you are already on the road to self-confidence. I once had a guy tell me he didn’t like my new outfit, so what did I do? I wore that outfit and I worked that outfit! My wardrobe, my world.
9. Stop overthinking, worrying, and jumping to conclusions
It leads to madness I tell you, MADNESS! But guess what? It won’t change a thing!
10. Be kind, be true, be remembered
A pretty face means nothing when it’s disguising an ugly heart. Even if people are unkind to you, rise above it. Pray to the angels to help them because it’s them who needs the help, not you. Don’t be a push over, stand up for what you believe in, but you can do this while being kind, because a caring heart will always be remembered for all the right reasons.
I hope all this helped and hopefully you readers will take it on board because soon to be 20-year-old me is now laughing at 15-year-old me… we’re here, we made it, things go wrong but life goes on!
Lots of love,
Soon to be 20-year-old me xx
P.S. You’re still not too old to believe in fairytales and probably never will be because you’ll need that belief to achieve point number 7! Make the most of your youth while you have it though because you only get it once so it’s okay to have a young head and a wild heart 🙂
