18 things I learned by 18
1. Some people are simply not going to like you. No matter what you do and how much you try to please them, they will still disdain you. They aren’t worth your time or worry. 2. Boys can be fickle. They may say they love you and care about you no matter what one day, and ignore you the next. Don’t let their perception of you change how you feel about yourself or you’ll be hella insecure. 3. Your body is going to make you feel incredibly insecure sometimes (read: most of the time). Give yourself a break and just focus on feeding yourself good food and getting outside. 4. It can be especially hard to love your body when people around you seem to hate their own bodies. Don’t let their own negative emotions affect you too much (easier said than done). Remind them they’re beautiful. 5. Sometimes you gotta pretend you’re okay until you feel that way. Emotions and feelings evolve so much as a teenager, which is both wonderful and awful, but you gotta remember you won’t feel this unstable forever. 6. If you spend too much time worrying about how others perceive you, you’ll slip in your character and self care. There will always be people “cooler” and “lamer” than you. 7. Be open to new experiences. But don’t let anyone push you into a new experience because it won’t be a good memory if it’s forced. 8. Don’t put anyone on a pedestal just because you think they’re fascinating or cool. It makes for a bad friendship. 9. Drinking will only make you temporarily happy. Same goes with smoking. Take what you will from that. 10. Sex can be one of the most awful or one of the most amazing human experiences. But as long as you trust the person you’re with, it shouldn’t be too serious. 11. Let go of things from the past. Everyone makes mistakes but dwelling on them past learning is a pointless and frustrating mindset. 12. Social media can become toxic when your mindset is toxic. It can also be a lot of fun. 13. When you start chugging out of a plastic vodka bottle, you realize you should have stopped 3 shots ago. 14. Don’t drop plans, friends or anything for any boy. 15. When a boy invites you into his room to smoke, he wants more than chit chat. 16. Even your best friends can try to talk you into things you’re uncomfortable with; in fact, they are the often the most likely to. 17. Sometimes just caring about each other isn’t enough to make it work. 18. Music helps. With all of this.