Today, you are my vibrant little girl. Tomorrow, a woman of the world :) Keep these things in mind as you get older, they’re timeless advice. I love you baby.
1. Practice good personal grooming habits. If you are going to have colored hair, keep your roots covered. If you are going to have fake nails, keep them filled. Take care of your skin, take care of your teeth.
2. Dress modestly. Gain attention through who you are rather than the parts of your body you choose to expose. It is worth far more in the long run.
3. Certain fashion staples will always remain timeless. A few conservative dresses, a string of pearls, a nice handbag and a good pair of pumps should always be in your wardrobe.
4. Write thank you notes. It is one of the best ways to make a good impression and literally takes five seconds. It is a dying art that so desperately needs to be revived. If someone is nice enough to give you a gift or recommend you to a position, the least you can do is give them a proper thank you. People remember thank you notes.
5. Get involved. Join societies and organizations that have a positive influence in your community. Create positive exposure for yourself.
6. Learn how to write checks and keep a check book. You may never need to use it, but if there comes a time that you need to, you’ll feel stupid if you don’t know how.
7. Form opinions. On political matters. On current events. Be able to contribute to a conversation as an informed member of society. Knowing when to exert these opinions and when to keep them to yourself is just as important.
8. Take a stance and do not falter. Reach security in your beliefs and live your life in accordance to those you hold true.
9. Get an education and make use of it. Women all too often hide their intelligence which is truly the greatest waste of ability in the world.
10. Learn to handle your liquor. And if you can not handle your liquor, simply do not drink.
11. Learn to walk in high heels. And if you can not walk in high heels, buy cute flats instead. There is nothing attractive about a woman wobbling around like a newly hatched chicken.
12. Allow yourself to be treated like lady. If more women would sit down and be ladies, more men would stand up and be men. Just because you are capable of opening your own door, in the presence of a man, you should not have to. Allow men the indulgence of being men and take pride in the privilege of being a lady.
13. Keep your business to yourself. Be leery of who you trust and realize there are certain things you should keep to yourself.
14. Handle confrontation with grace and dignity. There will be people with which you do not agree. Respect the opinions of others and their right to disagree with you.
15. Use social media sparingly and in a way that only further dignifies you as a woman. In an age of digital exposure, we make the mistake of becoming too present in social media. If it’s not going to present you in a positive light, don’t post it.
16. Do not be afraid to admit that sometimes you need help. Even if it is a man’s help.
17. Practice good telephone manners.
18. Be kind and courteous to all those you encounter for you never know who their impression of you will reach.
19. Find your own personal faith and do not allow it to be shaken.
20. Do not restrict yourself to gender stereotypes, but do not blatantly defy them for sport.
21. Accept defeat gracefully. At some point you will fail. Accept it and bow out gracefully. Move on.
22. Cultivate yourself as an interesting person and develop a personality that is unique to yourself.
23. Be the woman a man needs, not the woman that needs a man.
24. Understand your self worth and never settle for less than what you deserve.
26. Do not lower your standards.
27. Find your passion and pursue it. Wholeheartedly and fearlessly.
28. Bend the rules when necessary, but observe them whenever possible.
29. Do not develop a reputation as a gossip. People will not trust you and will not have mercy towards you when it is your name being slung through the mud. Which will happen at some point or another.
30. Do not validate your self worth around a man. You are more than someone’s girlfriend. You are more than someone’s wife.
31. Do not pursue a college education to platonically find a husband.
32. Do not outwardly reject society’s conventions of a woman just because they differ from your personal convictions.
33. Know there is a time and place for everything and observe this advice accordingly.
34. Laugh. A woman’s laugh is infectious and there is so much to laugh about. You just have to find it.
35. Find beauty in every day. It’s there. You just have to find it and you will be glad that you did.
36. Find your bliss. Life is too short to be unhappy and an unhappy woman is very unattractive.
37. Do not be afraid to put yourself first.
38. Do not feel guilty for having ambitions and pursuing those ambitions. Wanting to have a career does not make you any less of a woman than wanting to stay at home.
39. Do not be ashamed for seizing the opportunity to stay at home to raise your children. If it is the right decision for you and your family, it is a wonderful opportunity you should consider yourself fortunate to have.
40. Respect your fellow women.
41. Do not feel ashamed of your feminity. Embrace it. Wear pink.
42. Develop a certain extent of self-reliance. You are not expected to change your own tires, but as a grown woman, you should know how to pump your own gas.
43. Protect your financial interests and remain aware of your financial situations as a family, couple, or single woman.
44. Do not be afraid to say no.
45. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated.
46. Become an advocate for other women. We are all in this together.
47. Never allow a man to make you feel inferior.
48. Be the kind of woman you’d want your daughters to be and your sons to date. Hold yourself to a higher accountability and serve as a role model for other young women.
49. See the big picture and make your decisions accordingly. You are someone’s daughter. One day you may be someone’s wife. You may be someone’s mother. You may be someone’s boss. You may be someone’s Sunday school teacher. Your life could go in so many ways you may not realize at 18.
