Want What You Have, Love What You Get, Slow Down. From Author Elana Johnson (POSSESSION)
Teen Elana, right.
Dear Teen Me:
I think it’s high time someone told you that you need to stop abandoning the things you get as soon as you get them. I mean, you only want things (ahem, that boy to ask you out) until they happen, and then you don’t want them anymore.
Well, guess what, my friend? That boy that asked you out? You hurt him! Instead, you should’ve been thrilled, but because you got what you wanted, you moved on. Rather quickly, too, I might add.
Uh, you gotta stop doing that. You need to want what you have. Right now. This second. Appreciate it. Enjoy it.
Teen Elana, right, rocking some very 90's denim.
When good things happen—and they will—you need to be satisfied with what you get. Like that boy that asked you out. Suddenly he wasn’t good enough. But he was. He should’ve been. You’ll never know, because you didn’t go out with him.
You moved on too fast. You’ve got to learn to slow down.
So as someone who’s still struggling to want the right things, love the right things, and truly slow down and experience life, I’m telling you: you’ll be happier in your life now, in college, in your job, in everything if you’ll just 1. Want what you have, 2. Love what you get, and 3. Slow down a little.
Elana
Simon Pulse, June 2011.
Elana’s debut novel, POSSESSION, will be published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster) on 6-7-11. Learn how to spell and say her name.
Elana wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.
Using her boring human powers, she graduated from Southern Utah University with Summa Cum Laude honors in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics. She started her teaching career as an upper grade music and art specialist. After a four-year stint in 3rd grade, she is currently the technology specialist. She lives with her husband and two kids in central Utah.
She is the author of FROM THE QUERY TO THE CALL, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query.
She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog and The League of Extraordinary Writers. She is a member of SCBWI.
Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.
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Yay Elana….loving what you’ve got is sometimes the hardest lesson to learn!! Thanks for the glimpse into the “teen you”
Hey Elana- Poor boy! I’m sure he’s okay by now, though. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the denim picture and I’m so glad my family never got those type of glam shots. The best we have is the sepia toned western fake from Busch Gardens where we’re all staring at the camera like zombies because they told us not to smile.
Thanks for sharing! -Kelly Bryson
LOL! Thankfully, I never had that done. And I so want to see that picture!
Elana! That is SO TRUE, and such a fitting message to everyone—not just teens.
*raises cup of ginger tea*
Here’s to loving what we have when we have it!
There are at least two wonderful things about your letter. One, the wise counsel you end with. But, just as importantly, there is an implicit message that, at any time in one’s life, one has the ability to reframe and rechoose how one views a situation, even if it occurred in the past. That’s very freeing, isn’t it?
Yes, this is it exactly. I’m still learning all three of those things. Great point!
Amen, sista
I definitely need to appreciate what I have more. And p.s. I LOVE you with long blonde (sandy blonde?) hair LOL Excellent letter 
Great letter to your teenage self, Elana. =o)
Love the expression in the first picture!
Don’t you wish, just a little, that you knew then what you know now?
GReat letter.
(You are not a tool.)
Shelley
Yeah, well, I try to look as stupid as possible in pics so others won’t feel so self-conscious. Ha ha!
First of all your hair looks awesome! So different from now, which is also still awesome.
Now I’ll read the post.
Great advice! How different life would be if we knew then what we know now. Oh hindsight you beautifully evil beast you!
Great letter–it’s easy to want to move on to the next thing, rather than savor what you have. I have to remind myself of this too! P.S. I love the ninja cowgirl look.
I think we had the same leather jacket.
Great letter. It can be a hard thing to go back and tell ourselves what we should have done. If I were you I would have listened because you rock.
I definitely had the same kind of problem, (at least in high school. I’m probably still too close to being a teen to have the right perspective on this.) If I got something I wanted, I started to think I didn’t want it. If only our younger selves could be so wise.
What awesome advice – so true for everyone, not just teenagers. And I love the pics!
Oh, I LOVE that letter to your teen self! It’s definitely something I think most of us have to work on, even now.
Great letter, great lesson. We are so busy listening to everyone else’s voices at that age, rather than our own. And sometimes even that lasts longer than it should. Wise words.
Great advice, Elana. And I think I had the same brown leather jacket in high school…
I love this – and the pics…LOVE THEM MORE!
Ha ha! That picture made my day. I wish I had cool dance pictures like that. Does Trevor know about this post? Should I tell him?
On behalf of teen boys who were hurt by teen girls, I absolve you. Seriously, it’s good for them.
I’m sure Trevor doesn’t know about this post. And we should probably keep it that way… *gulp*
Ugh, I was totally like that. I sucked.
Great advice!
Love the pics. It brings back memories
The cityscape one reminds me of my high school drama class. And what a wonderful message to send yourself! The insight gained with time can be so moving. It’s too bad we can’t actually send a message to ourselves, but even if we could, what are the odds we’d listen?
It’s a scary thing to look back. I find myself doing it more now than I ever have. Wish you’d been around when I was struggling to find myself. Great blog, Elana. Good for you. Ps. I needs lots of karma.
Karma, karma, karma. Good vibes… ohhm…
Lol, I had that same brown jacket in high school too! How I miss the early 90′s fashion!
Great letter Elana! I could have written this myself.
That’s great advice for “teen you” and for now!
Elana, you’re so right. I spent a lot of time skipping over things trying to get to the grown-up stage of my life. And then when I got here, I was like, okay, now what? Now I see my daughter doing the same thing, only she’s worse. Ahhh! I don’t want a mini-vesion of my worst self. I want a mini-version of the mature adult-self I’ve become. That’s what I get, I guess. Great letter!
Elana – You are such a cutie patootie. Fun then and fun now. Love the pics.
Great advice about slowing down a little. I remember thinking: I can’t wait til I’m 12. I can’t wait til I’m 14. I can’t wait til I’m 16.
Now, I’m erugh and, at the end of the day, I’m like: Sheesh, where’d the day go. Forget about years.
So, excellent advice for the teen you and all of us. =D
Fantastic advice, E. No matter what your age.
What?!? Slow down? Would your teen self actually have been capable of that? I know mine wouldn’t…it’s a problem I still have. And from the post on your other blog, I’m assuming your adult self still has the same issue.
Totally awesome letter. I can see where I was the same way. There was no challenge left, so why would I still want it. It’s something I still struggle with slightly today. I have to slow down for sure and try to be in the moment more. Great letter and love the pic.
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover
Great letter, Elana! Wonderful points…Slow down and enjoy your teenage years!
Slooooow Doooowwwnnn! I think it is the hardest thing to do. We are always in a hurry to get somewhere, do something, see something that we never enjoy anything. I’m still trying to learn to be in the moment. Great post!
Great letter! I’m considering having my 9 year-old read it (and then re-read it in 4 years…). What would I write to teen me, I wonder?
Try it! I want to see what you’d write to yourself!
Loved the letter. I could have used to slow down myself, but mostly I would tell myself to stop worrying and not to take everything so damn seriously. Love the jeans, btw!
Thanks. I still like denim too much, I think…
You are just SO cute, Elana!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to hug you. Hey, I get to in May! Yay!!!
I can’t wait to see you!
Elana!! Wonderful letter and so apropos for the “Gotta have it now…I want it now” teen of today. Appreciate what you already have. Nice.
Ugh! The wanting! I could just kick my Teen Self for all the stupid things she wanted and all the time she wasted wanting them. But I think what I would tell her is the same as what you said, “Want what you’ve got,” with a dose of, “Let it go!” and maybe a little, “If you want it so bad, go get it!”
Grown-Up Me is learning to be happy Having instead of being miserable Wanting.
This could be a letter all by itself–I love it! I like how you capped Wanting too…