or 12. 13. 14. 15. 17. 18. Older? Younger? Sure. For you, my dear.
You are young, and you are full of dreams, and wonder, and beauty. You are growing into someone that already is and will become more radiant and glowing every single day. And that is what you are supposed to do right now. You are supposed to grow.Ā
Now is not a time for you to be obsessed with the way you look, or how boys or other people see you, or if youāre ever going to be prettier than her, or if your skin is going to glow, and if your teeth are straight and white enough. Now is not the time to worry yourself with the state of the current cut of your hair, I promise, it is good enough, and it is not time to sit in the back of your classroom looking for the perfect prom dress online while your history teacher lectures on, to which you will have no recollection. Now is not the time to obsess over your reputation, and compare yourself to everyone around you. It just isnāt.
You are too good. Too young. Too free right now. You are too resilient to be wasting your mind over things that donāt matter. He will not be important if you have to change yourself for him. She will not beam like you if she is ugly on the inside. They will not matter. You may feel that they do, but I can promise you a million times over, that you will not even remember these things in a few months, except through pictures on your instagram and conversations saved in your phone that youāll tirelessly search through on a sleepless night, for a gleaming moment that made you genuinely smile.
So go. Go take pictures, and go talk too much, and go study. You might not want to, but believe me, knowledge is sexy. It is edgier than your black dress and sharper than your winged eyeliner, it cuts deeper into someoneās brain when they have their first conversation with you after just looking at you all the time. And they will. They will look, and it might be the people you didnāt think it would be, but theyāre watching, and why? Because you shine. You gleam like the sun, and your radiance pours out of your skin, sweet like the wine youāll feel risky for drinking your freshman year in college. But you have to live.
A girl who lives free and unhinged from societyās jaw, always talking at you and not to you, always telling you what to look like and how to act, is a girl who is truly the finest specimen. She is beautiful, and deep, and confusing, and yet everyone is drawn to her, because she can live.Ā
So start now. Because youāre 16. Or 12. 13. 14. 15. 17. 18. Older? Younger? Sure. Life away from your own demons and insecurities. For you, my dear. Life.