Can I alter my past?
No.
Sure, there’s no use regretting things that did not happen the way they could have happened. But every now and then, I think to myself that if I had realized few things early in life, I would have saved me a lot of trouble later in life.
I can not change my past, but it would be nice if this could help someone who’s still in their teens and is looking for some advice in life.
So, here are few things that I wish I knew as a teenager.
Reading makes you smart
Yes. Reading is one of the habits if developed early can get you many years ahead of your time. Along with expanding your imagination power, it gives you a deeper understanding of people in general. It deepens your emotional understanding as well as understanding of the world. You get to look at life from different perspectives of different writers and develop a perspective of your own. What your parents, your teachers don’t teach you, books certainly can.
Moreover, reading sharpens your focus and memory which can help you to do academically well in school.
Life is not as romantic as portrayed in movies
As a growing teen, I loved watching rom-coms. I imagined my adult life to be somewhat similar to the life of the protagonists in those movies. A life full of magical moments where I get to be whatever I want and get to live life the way I want to. And to think that there is always a happy ending to everything fills you up with myriad of false and unrealistic expectations.
As an adult, I realize that life is not always good to you. You always have to find a way to live through hard facts of life and not let those things break you. Moreover, there are a lot situations where you cannot be spontaneous, can’t speak your mind. You have to respect people and place. It’s not at all cool to think that the entire world revolves around you, it’s rather stupid and inconsiderate of you.
Not everyone in your friends’ group likes you
Everyone bonds differently with different people. It’s not possible to have equal level of understanding and connection with everyone in the group. There will always be one friend who will be favored more than the other friend in every friends’ group. And sometimes, unfortunately, the other friend could be you.
They might talk behind your back and you will not know it until you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into the friendship. That realization occurs when everyone grow apart except that one friend who really reciprocated that love and admiration.
Grades don’t determine your future
Grades are just an evaluation of how well you study the entire year. They measure your past academic efforts. Everything else that is also important in life is not considered in your mark sheet.
You may be good at sports or crafting, or acting but your mark sheet doesn’t mention those things. So, does it mean that your future is not worth anything? Certainly not.
Besides, our interests and circumstances in life are forever changing. You may become studious later in life or you may choose to do something that has nothing to do with studies at all. We are constantly discovering ourselves at every point in our life. So, believing that your grades are going to determine how well or how bad you are going to do in future is silly.
Start Building habits now
Even though it’s not impossible to build new habits when you’re older, but it’s easier to adapt to new things at a young age. There is not much exposure to the outer world, so it’s easier not to be distracted by different things that might feel like a hindrance in building up those habits.
Waking up early, going to bed early, eating healthy, working out, all these habits when built at a young age, don’t demand much effort when you’re older since you’d already be used to all of it.
Your parents know a bad influence
If your parents tell you to stay away from a person or not to make friends with a certain classmate, listen to them. Yes, they have experienced life more than you have and they have seen all kinds of people. It is through those experiences that they can sense things and people in a way you can’t. So, consider what your parents have to say about whom you keep company with.
Stick to your creative hobbies
It is true that indulging yourself in hobbies can be a stress-buster, because it’s something that you enjoy doing. And since it’s done for enjoyment purpose, it doesn’t feel demanding. When you stick to your creative hobbies for a long time, say painting, sewing, dancing, singing, etcetera ; you can become adept at them to an extent that you can leverage those skills to earn money later in life.