A Letter to My 13-year old Self

Riddhi Shah
SYJC-F

13 is a very exciting age for people, you have just stepped into a new chapter of your life, the teenage phase. It’s when you start understanding the world around you. The only advice I would most like to give my 13-year-old self is to be happy and be patient, don’t wish it all away. To live every single moment of life and savour it because it won’t ever come again.

Not all the things will go according to your plans but trust me it will be much better than you anticipated. Keep playing your bass guitar and Super NES, read all the editions of Wimpy Kid and Geronimo Stilton while listening to Nirvana. Make your bucket list super fun, include things such as riding the craziest roller coaster, exploring the world, stargazing all night, going for treks, skydiving, scuba diving and try your best to accomplish it. Life will be so much fun, you can never imagine. And a very important note, don’t wind that brush around your hair, it will get stuck and you will have a terrible haircut for months.

Be less stressed about the details and trust yourself more. There will be hundreds of people who will bring you down, pay no heed to them. Hold your head up high always because you are like pure gold. Also, remember what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Don’t compare yourself to others. You are different and special in your own way and that’s your superpower. Everything you are worrying about now will be insignificant one day.

This world is full of people who won’t let off a single chance to comment on how you look or body shame you. My advice to that is to take it in the most positive way plausible, build yourself up to the girl they never thought you could be. You don’t have to be 5’8 and slim or light-eyed to be beautiful. Don’t fall for the unrealistic beauty standards that this world has set for men and women. Life is too short to hate on your body, the body which is going to be with you for the rest of your life. Love it, care for it, nurture it. You just have to be yourself, that’s ENOUGH, that’s BEAUTIFUL. Look at yourself in the mirror every day and smile and tell yourself that you are beautiful cause beauty comes from within you and nobody can take that away from you. So be confident of the body, the looks, the hair, the skin that you have and be grateful for all that you have got.

Choose your friends wisely. Tread carefully while befriending people. Be with people who will lift you, who radiate positivity into your life. These friendships are really built to last. You will also get into arguments with some friends which might seem like the end of the world right now, but in some years you will realise that it was all for the best.

Live the warmth, tenderness and preciseness you naturally are. You are embarking on a journey of becoming a woman and that is the most important relationship to consider. No push, no imposition, a loving approach on all levels with no perfection but an open heart is all that is needed. In some years you will get stronger than you ever realised, and you’ll look back at being thirteen with a laugh creeping across your face as well as a substantial dose of second-hand embarrassment because you were a bit zany at thirteen.