1. Focus on your education, not the popular kids
No one will care how popular you were after high school, but people will always care about how smart you are and the path you’re taking to set yourself up for the future.
2. Budget wisely
It’s important for you to know money doesn’t come easy, so when you get your first job, start saving for a car or house deposit instead blowing your paychecks on clothes and cinema tickets.
There is nothing more satisfying than working hard and living off your own money without needing help from your parents.
3. Heartbreak is inevitable, but so is moving on
Love is risky. When somebody means everything to you and things don’t work out, you will feel an emptiness that is indescribable.
You will fall in love and your heart will break into a million pieces more than once.
You’ll feel like there’s no reason to live and the world doesn’t understand your pain, but I promise you, I understand.
It may take time, sometimes a lot of time, but heartbreak will fade. Life will get better and you will find love again and again.
4. You have a right to your feelings
Never let anybody belittle your feelings. There are no right or wrong ways to feel and no one but you gets to decide how you feel about situations.
Life won’t always be easy; some days you’ll feel exhausted and want to stay in bed. Promise me that when you feel this way, you’ll let me in to remind you that you’re not alone.
5. You’ll need to let people go
Friends will come and go throughout your entire life, especially during your school years.
The older you get, the more you’ll realize that having a small circle of good friends you can trust is better than having one hundred drama-filled acquaintances who don’t really care about you.
6. You’re going to mess up sometimes
I will be able to spot fake friends and bad boys in your life way before you do, but I’m sure you’ll ignore every opinion I share and attempt to prove me wrong.
When you realize I was right, I promise never to say ‘I told you so.’
Instead, I will remind you that everything happens for a reason and to never regret anything you once wanted.
The key to making mistakes is learning from them. They will only make you wiser and stronger.
7. See the world
Get out of your comfort zone and travel. There’s a great big world out there and you’ll learn so much about yourself and the world around you while experiencing it.
Your best memories will be ones made traveling the globe, learning about different cultures, and finding people you never thought you’d get the opportunity to meet.
8. Never change for anybody, not even me
The biggest challenge in life is continuing to be yourself when the rest of the world is trying to make you the same as everybody else.
Be independent and always stay true to yourself.
Forget about the opinions others may have of you and instead focus on standing up for what you believe in and achieving your dreams.