1. your middle school best friend, the one you share all your laughs with and can’t imagine not being friends with, will only be a familiar face that you’ll share a smile with across the room during high school graduation
2. popularity doesn’t matter. at all. be nice to everyone, don’t be stuck up in who you talk to, stay down to earth. high school isn’t just about climbing to the top and building contacts. one day you’re going to look back and wonder who your true friends were and what motives others had in gaining your friendship. take the time to get to know those who you normally wouldn’t, and you’ll be very surprised
3. the loneliness you feel right now is not permanent. there will be a moment, maybe months or years from now, where you will feel this overwhelming warmness, and you will look around at the people surrounding you and think, hey maybe all that sadness and loneliness was worth getting to this point. and you will smile and everything will be ok
4. don’t get sucked into the “I’m too cool to study” phase. stop glorifying netflix, going to sleep late, and barely getting your work done. find your motivation and don’t let anyone hold you back. there will be kids at school who will love to brag “I didn’t study for this test” and “oh dude I stayed up till 1am last night.” I promise that doesn’t make them cool or bad ass. in fact, most people who claim they haven’t cracked a book open, have actually studied more than you think. hold your own, be productive. you don’t want to look back on a test, a quarter, a semester, a year and think “damn, I wish I had done more.” give it your all and you will reap the benefits
5. don’t lose your spontaneity - don’t get sucked into the same rigid routine. regularity is great but you can’t lose your spark. it will crush you, years down the line, when you realize you’ve forgotten what it’s like to do something without overly planning it, without worrying about homework, without a million other items on your to-do list creeping into the back of your mind
6. when you’re having a shitty night, just go to sleep. seriously turn your phone off, close the computer, and get into bed. I promise that is the only solution.
7. when someone invites you to plans, always say yes. even if you’re exhausted, curled up watching a movie in pajamas. even if you feel like you want some alone time, or if you don’t feel 100 percent comfortable in the social situation (not in a dangerous way but a meeting new people way) - say yes. you won’t regret the experiences.
8. make yourself painfully aware of the compartmentalized characteristics and cookie-cutter personas you put on and that others put on. be conscious of the characters the media has ingrained in our society, and remind yourself that being the “cool girl” doesn’t mean drinking beer and eating burgers and letting guys step all over you so you can seem chill. reading and writing doesn’t make you “nerdy” just like playing sports doesn’t make you cool. these are associations we have been taught by movie scripts and novels. you don’t have to be one thing or the other - you can wake up early one morning, make yourself a smoothie, and be that “yoga” girl. then the next day you can stay out all night and live recklessly. you don’t have to feel like you need to fit into a persona
9. not everyone will like you, and that’s okay. stop trying to please everyone - it’s impossible. radiate confidence - even if it’s fake confidence, eventually it will become real. once you can do this, you will be untouchable
10. it’s not weird to go places alone - you don’t always need to find a friend to enjoy yourself. go for a walk, a bike ride. read at a coffee shop, take yourself out to lunch, drive somewhere interesting. don’t spend your whole day in a big ole box - you are alive, you are full of life and energy and so much potential. use it, move around, feel restless and don’t settle for staying idle
