Letter to myself at 16

Dear 16 year old me,

Where in God's name do i start? Today's you're 21st birthday so its only fitting to depress yourself on the choices ypu made up until this point. Ideally this should be a letter to yourself at 12 because thats when everything started to get weird. First and foremost learn to like yourself. You'll realise in 10years time that you actually like Certain things about yourself. You'll learn to accept your dark skin. You'll learn to appreciate your brown eyes. Eventually you'll learn to LOVE your name...not everyone has it. actually scratch that

You lived your life based on what you thought other people thought you shouold do.You smoked for 10 years because you thought all your friends are doing so you should to. You also drank in those 10 years but still to this day are drunk after 3 pints. You had slight self esteem issues but have learned to appreciate how God made you. You also had an interesting view on God and the whole concept of religion, however you've also learned to appreciate what you know and are now trying to build up on said knowledge. Over the years you've had a particular sense of style in mind but people areound you, namely yur mother and sister have always stopped you from fully expressing it-note to self DONT LISTEN TO THEM! you'll only be able to pull off some of these things in your youth. Learn to appreciate the gravity of certain situations. Don't always think they will have a story book/hollywood ending because those rarely happen...and if they do its because you put in the hard work and effort to resolve cretain issues. For God's sake pick up some books when you're bored and read them, they're not just random words printed on paper...you're imagination(as wild as it is) will use them to transport you to another world if you allow it. Also apply yourself in school it wont kill you, in fact if you do so you'll end up in a nice 3rd level college and meet some really interesting people...and if despite the fact you chose not to you'll still meet some pretty interesting people. Again dont make certain choices based on what they're doing-we're all different after all! Take time out to take care of yourself. Excercise. Yes thats right EXCERCISE. You hate football, but you like tennis. You loved gymnastics so why not try it out in your spare time again. You'll realise when you're 18 that you want nothing more than to act. Follow that feeling and dont give up. You'll also realise the sacrifices you're parents made for you to get to this point in your life. Like I said, apply yourself and show them that you appreciate their efforts and for Gods sake DONT REPEAT SECOND YEAR....and if you are going to bring notes into an exam dont wear Ralph Lauren Cargos!

Finally, do you're best to find someone who loves you for you. not for who you think you should be but who you actually are. There's no better feeling in the world knowing you dont have to kill yourself to impress someone. Now you should write one of these every year to yourself and see how you're life has changed and if you've learned from your mistakes and what great accomplishments you've made. Or just to see what you got up to. Wishing you many happy returns, long life and good health

Love
Your 21 year old self!
x



p.s. learn to do things when you are told and not when you feel like it!
p.p.s try and become fluent in french!