A Letter to My Younger Self

Dear Younger Grace,

I know you always wondered what life would be like when you were 15, 18, even 21 (although I haven't actually gotten that far yet), and I just thought that you may want some advice about your future. To be honest, some of it is amazing, some of it is not-so-amazing, but your life is never boring. You'll meet some great people, and even those friends that you have already made will still be there for you in years to come. So yeah, here is my advice to help you with your teenage years.

Firstly, people change. You will learn that people grow apart, and that's fine. Just don't worry, and be nice to everyone, even when you feel like you shouldn't be.

Secondary school is awful. Yes, you were actually pretty popular in primary school and had a lot of friends, but secondary school hits you like a ton of bricks. You are going to get pushed to the bottom of the social ladder, but that's okay, because you actually make a good group of friends, even though it is quite small. Plus, you have now given in to the fact that you are a nerd and probably always will be, so yeah, nerds rule (well, that's what you tell yourself).

You leave school and sixth from with pretty decent GCSEs and A levels, and get into a Russell Group university, but it takes a lot of time to overcome the fear of not being good enough. This is normal though, and honestly, if you talk to someone about it, you immediately feel one million times better. There is always going to be someone better at something than you are, and people will put you down, but just stay resilient and you will eventually get there. It doesn't help that you're lazy, but as long as you do your work then you're fine, even if you do end up starting a couple of hours before the deadline...

Boys suck, and will ignore you for the majority of school life, as you basically blended in and people only referred to you as 'move' or 'freak', which was fun. However, you actually end up with someone who turns out to be one of your best friends. He will basically ignore you for the first couple of years of secondary school, but when you end up together, he's nice and buys you food. Therefore, the years of being ignored were probably worth it, because food is great. But, he is someone who you would never have expected to end up with (honestly, if I say who it is, you wouldn't believe me), as everyone knew you as 'one of the weird ones' and he was actually quite popular, so hang on in there. You're not that weird, and even though you are an embarrassment, people appreciate that you don't take yourself too seriously. To be fair, with the amount of embarrassment that you have experienced, it's hard not to get into the 'laugh it off' mentality.

University is no walk in the park either, and you do begin to realise that maybe moving so far away from home was a mistake. Plus, picking the wrong course did not help, as psychology turned out to basically be biology, which isn't good. Switching to English Language may seem scary, but it actually turns out to be something you enjoy, and I promise, it's nothing like school. Plus, it helps you realise that you actually want to make a career out of writing, whether it be in the media, for a newspaper or even writing a novel.

Just enjoy being a kid while you can; trust me, you end up missing it. I know, that's probably quite a shock, as you spent a lot of your time wanting to be older, but being a kid is great. You have no worries, apart from which episode of Hannah Montana you were going to watch next. Ah, the good old days.

Oh, and by the way, you grow up to be a massive stress head, and worry about EVERYTHING. This proves to be quite annoying, so just try not to let it get to you too much.

On a last note, be happy. You had a great childhood, with a supportive family and friends, and you will get to travel to amazing places. Plus, you're still blonde when you're 19, and even though you still have a faint thought that you are adopted as everyone else in your family has ginger or exceptionally dark hair, you end up looking like the female version of your dad, so yeah, you're not adopted.

Yours sincerely,

19 year old Grace