The 30 List: Things for 16-year-old Me

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.

Oy. Here goes…

1.       CALM YOURSELF. I know it feels like your drowning in an endless sea of things-that-must-be-done-NOW but it won’t be the end of the world if you take two seconds for yourself. Go grab a cherry slurpee and breathe.

2.       STUDY FOR THE SAT’s. Yeah, yeah, you’re busy. MAKE TIME FOR IT, IT’S IMPORTANTT!!!

3.       You're not stick skinnny. And honestly, your boobs are not going to get that much bigger. And being told you are officially "obese" at the doctor's office might make you cry (uh YES, this actually happened). But someday, you are going to discover that your flexibility+muscle will make you a kick @$$ rock climber. Hardcore? HECK YEAH. Love your body and start to be proud. Like, now.

4.       Get better at lying. You’re going to need it to survive. Otherwise, you’ll be 24, waiting half an hour on your boyfriend because you couldn’t lie to him about his shirt being wrinkled (I'M A TERRIBLE LIAR).

5.       College rocks. The people who told you that high school is the best time in your life are liars. It’s fun, but definitely not the best time in your life. That is yet to come.

6.        Don't worry about not driving a BMW or wearing designer jeans. Your disdain for the OC and all the materialistic BS will eventually serve as your drive to escape the bubble and go have incredible adventures... even without the designer jeans and Jimmy Choo shoes.

7.       Don’t be embarrassed about your dream career to be a dolphin trainer. Enjoy the awkward things people say to you, because one day you can tell share stories with the other dolphin trainers and learn that they all have those stories too.

8.       When the bad stuff happens- don’t hang onto it for too long. The people who hurt you simply aren’t worth it. When you hang onto the anger, you’re only hurting yourself. Letting go of it and moving on doesn’t mean that it wasn’t significant; it just means that you value yourself more than the people who hurt you.

9.       Be nicer to Josh. He’s not such a bad kid and one day you’ll think of him as a friend.

10.   You’re going to get hurt a lot. That’s what happens when you’re a teenager. But, you’re going to meet a truly great man someday. A guy who will tell you how beautiful you are without any make up on, a guy who will hold you when you cry, make you laugh when you’re mad, who will hold your hand just because. Don’t let the bad stuff get you down because so many good things are coming for you.