What would you say if you could speak to your 16-year-old self?

Scarinae · 05-11-2010 01:04AM #1

One of the trends on Twitter today was #tweetyour16yearoldself, and some of the posts are pretty funny:

- You're right: no one gives a damn about Junior Cert results
- Time will prove you right: Blur ARE better than Oasis
- Invent a website where people can post 140 character messages. Trust me.

I thought it was an interesting idea though... What would you say if you were able to talk to your 16-year-old self? Would you give yourself advice, tell yourself about something that would happen in the future, or point out what a twat you were at that age?

I think that I would tell myself to stop worrying so much. I worried about what other people thought, what I'd do in college, my weight (even though I was actually quite slim, ah hindsight is a wonderful thing!)
I'd tell myself that if people care that much about what you look like/wear etc, they're not worth knowing anyway; I'd tell myself to stick to my guns and do what I find interesting so that I'd find an interesting job (I love what I'm doing now, even if it's not hugely secure! The guidance counsellor tried so hard to push me into medicine, and I would have hated it :rolleyes:)

I'd also tell myself to stay away from the knobend I went out with for a couple of months, the only ex-boyfriend I have very few positive things to say about... Assuming that the laws of causality wouldn't put me into some sort of crazy alternate reality like in Back to the Future 2, that is!

Cavehill Red · 05-11-2010 01:07AM

Buy Gold.

Xiney · 05-11-2010 01:24AM

learn to love exercise for the love of god

bronte · 05-11-2010 01:27AM

1) That guy you fancy? He's a complete asshole and will cheat on you.
2)Stop worrying about the future. Seriously!
3)Get a lighter shade of brow pencil.
4) Ten years from now you will be living in a different country and it will be quite bloody well good really!

jubella · 05-11-2010 01:31AM

Stop being so shy & come out of your shell, life is too short!

Dudess · 05-11-2010 01:35AM

You've a fantastic figure - quit thinking you're fat, you muppet!

You're good at languages - study hard enough to get a place on a languages degree because you really will regret it if you don't

Feeling like a freak for being sexually inexperienced at 16 is hilarious - hilarious!

Raze_them_all · 05-11-2010 01:35AM

Yes piercings are awesome, maybe accumilating the 46 will prevent you getting a job you like.

Drop out of secondary you still want to do the army at 22 and will get in at 16

vicecreamsundae · 05-11-2010 02:36AM

stop thinking you are a hideous monster. you're not.

boys are going to love you. seriously! and the ones you actually WANT to love you.

it's not all that black and white. you'll figure that out eventually, but the sooner the better. you going to say, do and believe things you NEVER thought you would, and it doesn't even make you a hypocrite.

RacoonQueen · 05-11-2010 07:15AM

- Buckle up, this ride is about to get bumpy.
- Don't worry and stress over things beyond your control.
- Don't waste your talents.
- He means it, he will get you back one day.

The Big Red Button · 05-11-2010 07:51AM

Slightly off-topic, but I was just talking about this with my best friend the other day. When we were sixteen, my youngest sister was born. Myself and my friend were really excited about it ... and we decided to write her letters that we would give to her when she turns sixteen.

I remember the two of us spent a full evening in my bedroom writing pages and pages full of all the wisdom and advice that we had picked up in our sixteen years, and telling her all about us and our lives and the boys we were in love with etc. My friend still has those letters sealed in a box under her bed ... I can't wait til my sister's 16th birthday so I can read them again!

Only seven years to go!!!

Anyways. Advice for my 16 year old self. I guess I'd just say that it's fine to make lots of mistakes and f*ck-ups ... just so long as you try to learn whatever lessons you can from them. And it's fine to do your own thing rather than follow everyone else's advice, if it's the thing that feels right and makes you sleep better at night. And no matter how big a deal something is at the time ... chances are, this time a year away, it's not going to be on your mind at all.

I don't know. I really don't feel like I've matured all that much since I was sixteen, so I'm not really a great one to be giving advice, even to my past self!

05-11-2010 08:23AM

- First and second year uni results WILL matter when you are looking for phd funding, stop messing and skipping lectures
- Don't go out with idiots 1 or 2... or 3
- That guy you have a crush on but thought wouldn't look at your twice likes you back, SAY something! but it doesn't matter long term because you'll meet someone more amazing

Yeah thats about it

Silverfish · 05-11-2010 08:29AM

Buy Apple shares

Buy Google shares

Stick with the programming, seriously.

rainbow kirby · 05-11-2010 08:41AM

Don't let yourself get as fat as you did, and dear sweet zombie jesus don't EVER start playing MMORPGs.

Take a year out after school to decide what you really want to do. Also, seriously think about doing medicine, you will get the LC results for it.

The people in school are just arseholes. It *does* get better.

Fox McCloud · 05-11-2010 09:37AM

You're not fat! Stop reading ****e magazines that make you feel fat rather than going on ridiculous diets.

Take up a hobby.

Talk to more people, there mostly nice and not as scary as you think!

jmbkay · 05-11-2010 09:46AM

Don't do it. You will regret it for the rest of your life. I did. And I did.

Leeg17 · 05-11-2010 09:49AM

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Don't let yourself get as fat as you did, and dear sweet zombie jesus don't EVER start playing MMORPGs.

The people in school are just arseholes. It *does* get better.

Mine here ^

FayeRayRay · 05-11-2010 10:03AM

-Dont wear so much pink
-Stop thinking your fat you are a size 6 for God's sake
-Why on Earth would you get that pierced ?????
-Have more fun, and stop worrying !!!!!!

senordingdong · 05-11-2010 10:08AM

Invent facebook.

Malari · 05-11-2010 10:26AM

- You should speak what you think a bit more. People will respect you for it. And yes, that means to teachers too.

- Please learn how to put on make-up properly. :rolleyes:

- You may think no-one will ever like you now, but trust me, in 5 years time you will meet a boy from school and he will actually use the words "oh my god"

Actually when I was 17 I wrote a letter to myself about my life, thoughts, feelings, etc. and I sealed it and wrote "not to be opened until you are 34" (ie, another 17 years) and it must still be in my boxes of stuff somewhere in my parents' attic

I only have a few years to find it! God, it's probably totally cringeworthy.

tough__cookie · 05-11-2010 10:44AM

Stop obsessing about your weight.

Loose the 2 striped tracksuit pants.

You're not a freak just because your parents are separated.

Someday you'll meet your soul mate so don't even bother with any other gob****es until then.

squeakyduck · 05-11-2010 10:50AM

Don't go out with that boy, it'll end in tears.

The make up you used to wear was hideous learn to use eyeliner constructively, buy proper make up brushes, stop wearing your hair in a pony tail and FOR CHRISTS SAKE buy a straightener!

Life/social status does not revolve around the music you listen to. Although you being the only person who loved Sum 41 as much as you did was pretty cool even though the goth freaks called you a looser.

Truley · 05-11-2010 10:58AM

Your parents are not the cause of everything that's wrong with your life :rolleyes:

Asphyxia · 05-11-2010 11:00AM

- Your health will improve loads and you wont be sick anymore, you'll be hospital free.
- Don't you dare experiment with drugs :mad:
- It's never too late to go back to education.
- Although it's hard to see now the guy you have started going out will be one of the best things ever to happen to you and you will be so happy with him.
- Don't worry you will do all the travelling you've dreamed about.
- They're some people in your life that your not sure about. Well... you're right they will try to hurt you and for a some while they will but you'll get over it.

baby and crumble · 05-11-2010 12:16PM

Love this thread!!!

1) Yes, you're gay. No, your family won't disown you. Yes, it's awesome.

SO please don't go out with that guy- it won't make you straight.

2) You can do subjects in college that you didn't do for the LC. Yes, that means mad stuff like psychology and sociology.

3) Life isn't what you think it is. It's not black & white, or right & wrong. Stuff happens you never think will, and life throws lots of curves. Deal with it.

4) You will have an idea when you're about 25 to go to Paris with your Mum. Do it. Don't let her keep putting it off. You don't have long left with her.

5) Don't bother buying that mini-disc player. Wait a year and buy an mp3 player. Trust me.

6) CUT YOUR HAIR! You look like a dead slug with that hair.

7) Try sushi. You'll love it, I guarantee it.

Novella · 05-11-2010 01:11PM

I'd say nothing. I believe that the things we experience impact on who we become weeks, months and years down the line. If I told myself not to do X, or to avoid getting my heart broken etc., then I'd probably not be who I am now and think how I do. As for the little things - the wearing of the insanely baggy jeans with underwear peeping over the top (I know!

), that's just kinda funny to think about now.

Princess Peach · 05-11-2010 01:17PM

Get some confidence girl and stop being so afraid of everything!

And please stop wearing pants that soak up to the knees when it rains.

Eve_Dublin · 05-11-2010 01:18PM

Deadly thread...

- Take the jumper off that you´ve tied round your waist...your arse is not big, it´s curvaceous.

- Those 3 nasty girls at school have never left your hometown and karma has bit all 3 of them in the ass.

- You have a pretty cool taste in music for a girl your age.

- Be nicer to your dad, he´s doing his best.

- Your twenties will be better than your teens.

- Get up those stairs and study! You´re capable of a lot more even though you think you aren´t.

- You look like an idiot smoking.

sealgaire · 05-11-2010 01:21PM

Buy gold??? Buy copper!!!

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Buy Gold.

Tipsygypsy · 05-11-2010 01:48PM

From the book 'The Gathering' by Anne Enright, I read during the summer and it struck a chord...

"There are so few people given us to love. I want to tell my daughters this, that each time you fall in love it is important, even at nineteen. Especially at nineteen. And if you can, at nineteen, count the people you love on one hand, you will not, at forty, have run out of fingers on the other. There are so few people given us to love and they all stick."

I would tell me to cherish the moment, enjoy it, not worry about what other people think (she'll have worked that out for herself by 17). And not to worry, the people who matter will be with her for a very long time, and the assh0les will continue to be assh0les, but they dont matter. And follow her heart, cos thats what I did and things all worked out just fine.

I wouldnt tell her who she would end up marrying because she just wouldnt believe me!:D

Kimia · 05-11-2010 02:03PM

Not to get too deep or heavy but the funny thing is is that if we didn't go through the 'mistakes' that we are now warning our 16 year old selves about, we would never learn the lesson that would enable us to give the advice!

More on topic, I would tell myself to not worry so much about what other people think of you. Don't be a sheep!

Also I would tell myself to take up a sport and get active, it gets harder and harder the older you get.

SeekUp · 05-11-2010 02:05PM

I would tell myself to do what I thought was right for me and what I wanted to be doing, instead of doing what I felt I should be doing.

I would also tell myself not to compare the direction my life was heading with those of my friends . . . it's okay to be on different paths, at different places on each of those paths.

(Whether my 16-year-old self would've listened is a completely different story altogether . . . )

What would you say if you could speak to your 16-year-old self?

Comments