what advice would you give your 16yo self?

ahinescapron

You're depressed! All the eating in the world is not going to make these feelings go away...seek professional help. Get rid of your best friend who always puts you down, you don't need her. None of this is going to matter in 5 years, so try to have some fun and not take yourself so seriously.

Stacera

keep up your grades
keep riding your bike everyday
don't date the boy across the street there is no good that comes out of that AT ALL, he still haunts you in your 30s
Go away to college immediately after HS, don't wait around.

Never stop dancing.


so many things....

kykykenna

Your parents are not, in fact as in the dark about what you do as you think they are.

learnbygoing

Be a better friend. And be nicer to your sister. Oh, and don't make out with that guy...your sister will later marry him, and that just leads to all kinds of awkward >.<

robyng1986

-don't get with a boy who has your same name
- study study study
- don't focus on doing accounting subjects.... you are going to hate it later.

Gary1977

EAT BETTER & EXERCISE! Go to college just as soon as you finish high school. NO DRUGS, no matter how cool you think that girl offering them to you is.

hippotx72

1. Finish college.

2. Don't get married.

Both are very good pieces of advice!
I have grown up with so many people who think that if you're not married by a certain age, you're an old maid. In this scramble to avoid becoming one, they marry the first idiot who comes along, and end up heartbroken in the end. I realize that lots of marriages don't end that way (my parents, for example), but things seem so different now, with about half of all marriages ending in divorce.
I've almost 40 and have never been married, and I've never felt as if I'm missing anything. I get so annoyed when people ask me why I'm not married. I always respond with some snide remark--"no one wants to marry a serial killer," for example.

As for the advice I would give myself at age 16, I would say spend more time with your mom, because you'll lose her someday. =(

ninerbuff

Don't start smoking!!!! Just cause your girlfriend did doesn't mean you have to!! And don't grow a mullet again!!!!

BecksgotBack

don't marry the football player and move to California. when your mother offers to send you 3000 miles away and pay for 4 years of University so you won't marry the football player---do it.
when you meet that nice customer at work who offers you a job at his lawfirm and to cook you dinner--don't ignore him because you think he's "old". take the job at least.

pixardad

"This is going to be very difficult for you to hear. Mom and Dad *don't* know everything, they *don't* have all the answers, and they *aren't* doing everything the right way. *Don't* just follow your brother's lead. *Don't* just do what others do to fit in. You are not *only* smart. You are kind and gentle, yet powerful beyond your imagination. *Don't* be afraid of who you are! You have *no* limits!"

...if only this was told to me at 16...I'd be in a very different place.

natika33

You know when you thought your parents weren't perfect and perhaps didn't really know everything? Remember how you doubted some of their decisions in how to bring you up? Well, you were right.

People make mistakes. Part of growing up is taking responsibility for yourself. Sometimes that even includes disobeying your parents when they make a judgement that you know is wrong for you. Fighting to change their opinion is only a way of trying to put the responsibility back on them because you are too afraid to take the full consequences if you were wrong. Don't fight - just do.

Specifically:
Don't eat everything they put on your plate and demanded you eat.
Do somehow find the $300 dollars required to go to driving school instead of letting your dad "teach" you.
Do take a taxi when you know your parents are being too strict about letting you out of the house. It isn't a crime to go to a party where there might be a boy.

Also, congratulations on quitting ballet etc. to get a part-time job over their objections. You got a job straight out of university and beat your competition because you already had "working experience".

Congratulations too on continuing to take the "fluffy" classes you wanted to in high school and university instead of dropping them because your parents thought they were useless. Those classes helped you transition from the lab to the much better paying marketing department.

Finally, forgive them. People make mistakes, including yourself. Learn to forgive yourself and others or you'll spend way too much of your time angry.

BrewerGeorge

"Talk to girls!"

risefromruin

Dump him.
Love yourself and have confidence.
Don't start at a community college, start at a university.
Pay attention to all of the seemingly meaningless things you're learning, you WILL need them in the end.
...and so much more.

ummlovelovesyou

YOU'RE NOT FAT, you're perfect.

and...a pat on the back for waiting to have sex.

Phoenix1401

Dont listen to your "friends" everything is okay. Put down the razor and scissors there's no need to cut yourself. Stop popping pills to make yourself feel "good", suicide is not an option your father dont care or love you but your mother does. Put your self around positive people and focus on yourself and school.

i_love_vinegar

Seba dumping you isnt the end of the world. You didnt even like him that much to begin with!

Apply to a better University, away from the ghetto.

I have more important things to tell my 18 year old self though: Don't stay with someone who always makes you cry. =/

JDMPWR

More vagina, less marijuana kid!

Ezwoldo

More vagina, less marijuana kid!

LOOOOL


for me it would be put a hat on it son or it will cost you BIG TIME

MFPAddict

"And when you get a date with Bridgett make sure the tank is full
On second thought forget it that one turns out kinda cool"

chocolateandvodka

don't get married
go to college
move the FVCK out of your parents house. like NOW.