Thursday, October 15, 2009

Dear Someone: To My Fifteen Year Old Self

This week for Dear Someone, ShortMama has written a letter to her ten year old self and invited us to do the same. I started writing that letter, but then decided that while there are things I really wish I had known, I would probably want to protect my ten year old self from those things, so I decided to write to my fifteen year old self instead. She would be a little better equipped to handle all the important stuff than my ten year old self would be.

Dear Fifteen Year Old Self,

It’s hard to believe that almost fifteen years have past since I was in your shoes. If I could, I would tell you everything I’ve learned in those fifteen years in the hopes of preventing my mistakes and protecting you from getting hurt, but knowing you, you wouldn’t listen to me anyway. {We sure can be stubborn, can’t we?} But I will tell you a little bit, and maybe you’ll surprise us both and for once, actually listen to someone who has more life experience than you do. It really is okay to learn from others’ mistakes and to take others’ advice.

You are beautiful, inside and out. Don’t ever forget that. I know you wish you were a little bit taller and that your thighs were smaller, but you are perfect just as you are. When you look back on pictures from your high school days, you’ll be surprised at how thin you were ~ don’t spend so much time worrying about your weight. A little word from the wise ~ step aerobics twice a day will make your thighs bigger, not smaller. {You will soon learn that you put on muscle FAST without even trying, especially in your legs.} Oh, and laxatives are evil. Don’t ever, ever use them as a weight loss tool. They’re highly addictive, and if you take them too much, you can’t even poo without them!

I know that right now, you really want to be a cheerleader for football rather than for wrestling, but know that you will have AMAZING memories from three seasons spent with the wrestling team and your fellow cheerleaders. You don’t even like football {and wrestling is actually pretty cool}. Plus wrestlers make way better high school boyfriends than football players do.

Stay away from that dark, handsome cowboy you’ll meet right before you turn 23. Yes, he’ll look amazing in his cowboy hat and Wranglers, and you may think you have great chemistry, but he’ll break your heart as many times as you let me. {And believe me, that will be A LOT.} He is not the One. You may think he is the One, you may want him to be the One, but be thankful that he isn’t. You will be a million times happier and life will be much more enjoyable without him in it. And if you do find yourself in a relationship with him, for goodness sake, don’t be silly enough to buy a house with him! Nothing good will come of that!

Enjoy life. Enjoy high school and college. Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up, and don’t spend so many hours in front of the mirror wishing your legs were a little bit thinner or that your skin wasn’t so pale. Treasure your relationships with your girlfriends, and don’t spend so much time worrying about boys. I don’t want to tell you too much about how life will turn out ~ not knowing is half the fun ~ but I will leave you with this little tidbit: you already know the boy who will turn out to be the love of your life. And he’s not that scrawny little Mexican who wrestles at 115.

Good luck, and remember to enjoy each day, each week, each year. Time flies by so fast, and before you know it, you’ll be me!

8 comments:

shortmama said...

How funny that you warn yourself against the cowboy and I tell myself to look for the cowboy

Badass Geek said...

How clear our hindsight is, eh?

Great post.

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

What a great letter! I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self so many things. How much pain and agony would we save ourselves if we could do that? *sigh*

XOXO
Jen

Kathy Campbell said...

So awesome. And so true.

April said...

What a great letter!!!

Jen said...

OMG I love this! Ah, wrestlers :) they hold a special place in my heart. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually READ letters from our future selves? It could save a lot of trouble and heart ache.

Unknown said...

Oh how I wish I could have written myself back then!! Just for a confidence booster!!!

Great post- been missing you!

~Becca

Vivienne @ the V Spot said...

Amen! Don't you wish you really could tell your young self what you know? Then again, every experience we have (good or bad) has lead us to where we are right at this moment. And this moment is pretty good, yes?
:)