things i would tell my seventeen year old self.

When I was seventeen I had the whole world ahead of me. I had hopes and dreams and the prospects of becoming something new. I had the idea that everything out in the great wide world was meant for me. When I was seventeen there were choices to be made but I was confident I would pick correctly.

I look back to when I was seventeen and I wonder what I would tell myself at that age.

I would tell her to calm down and think twice before making hasty decisions. To love hard and hold all the hands she thinks about holding. To never stop dreaming. I would tell her not to build a wall, to barricade from hurt. I would tip her in on the boys to kiss and the boys not to waste her time on. I would admonish her on the good movies to see. I would tell her that trying things just to say you did so isn’t worth it. I would teach her how to hide in her mind and never emerge until she felt it was the right thing to do. I would demand she hold her tongue whether she liked it or not.

I would brush her hair behind her ear and tell her that first kisses only come once in a lifetime and to take advantage and write down her experience word for word, action for action, feeling for feeling.

I would hug my seventeen-year-old self and say: ‘Self, honey, life is tough right now. I hate to tell you this, but it is only going to get harder.  But you’ve got a lot more in you than you think and you’ll make it, you’ll surprise yourself. I promise”

If I ever met my seventeen year old self I would teach her to love everyone and never judge. If I ever met my seventeen-year-old self I would tell her to be cheerful. I would tell her to believe and that all wounds heal with time.