Advice I'd Tell My 16 Year Old Self and 16 Year Olds Today.

Hello Everyone,

Hope you're having a good week so far :)

This is bit of a different post from my usual ones but I wish when I was 16, my future self could have gave me advice and let me know everythings going to be ok. I hope in a way that this post can be of some help to you if you're still at school or college because they are the toughest times growing up as a teenager!

Don't care what people think about you!

I was one of the worst for constantly thinking what people think and doing things to get peoples approval that had no significance in my life. I was the girl who never wore any make-up, didn't really bother with my hair and just went to school to do school work which lets face it the majority of kids didn't! I had quite bad skin and didn't have the money to buy fancy products to help with it so just had to live with it. The older I've got the more accepting I am of the occasional breakout. If you're at school and like me don't have the perfect skin, don't worry about it... it will improve, it's all part of growing up and maturing! Now at the age of 24 my skin is 95% nearly there, I am thankfully growing out of that phase. I always thought "Oh a boy won't fancy me cus I have a spot" Seriously?? If someone doesn't want to go out with you because of bad skin then they're not worth it because that doesn't affect who you are! I do still think about what people think but I feel that I am more myself and wear what I want to and do what I want to.

You WILL realise who your true friends are!

I'm the type of person who doesn't need a huge group of friends, I just have a few very close friends who mean more to me. At school who you were friends with or who had the most friends sort of grouped you into different popularities which is so wrong and some people were left out. I wish I had gone up to the people who were classed as "unpopular" and made more of an effort to be friends with them. There is no such thing as people being better than others, we're all equal and deserve the same opportunities in life. Since leaving school I have realised who was actually a true friend, after going through a tough time a so called friend said "I was using her" when I needed support. I would tell myself that friendships shouldn't feel like hard work so if you feel like that, maybe it isn't meant to be. Also poeple change and sometime not for the better. After leaving school your friends make new friends either at school or work which is great but sometimes this turns your friend into something they're not or into a completely different person. The worst is when money changes people. At school "money wise" everyone is near enough the same. I had a friend who wasn't that well off, so whenever we went out my mum would always pick her up, take her home and even pay for the cinema or theme park tickets but now she has a good job it's as if she's too good to even bother with me anymore and all that I did is so unappreciated. Really look at who your friends are and don't put time into people who won't return the same amount of respect. Friendships are a 2 way system and should be equal.

Life after School

When you're 16, you're in your last year of school and your whole life is ahead of you which is exciting but equally scary. I did the right thing by applying for apprenticeships at 18 when I left sixth form because getting a job these days is more about the experience than what qualifications you have and with an apprenticeship you can gain a qualification at the same time you're earning money. Life is so much harder than what you expect it to be! If you work hard it will pay off. I am now an Accounts Supervisor which is exactly what I wanted to do when I was 16. When you leave school you will realise that you need to grow up and fast, I see so many teenagers on the way home from work that have such bad attitude and actually say some shocking things just to impress their mates. Don't fall into that trap, be yourself and work as hard as you can and you will get what you want out of life. Just remember it won't just come to you like in the movies, you have to work for it! 

I hope in some way this has helped, I feel like I've just rambled and made no sense but I've been wanting to do this post for ages now and get it out of my head ha!

If you want me to do any more posts like this, please let me know! :)

Thank you for reading.

Tash