Dear Teen Me from Author Sarah Nicolas
Dear Sarah,
Sarah at her Junior Prom.
It’s funny, you always thought if I got a chance to write a letter to you I’d tell you to invest in Apple Computers a certain company or find a way to warn you about September 11th an important event. Unfortunately I’ve become one of those people who believes meddling in the past is a dangerous proposition. (Yeah, like in Back to the Future)
The thing is… I’m happy about the way we turned out. But maybe I’m not so happy about how long it took. There’s just one thing I want to tell you every kid on the planet:
For the love of God whatever you believe in, don’t listen to anybody else.
Maybe that’s irresponsible advice for an adult to give a teen? Maybe. Maybe in twenty years I’ll write a letter to me telling me how stupid imprudent I was. But for now that’s too many us’s for me to keep track of; so there’s just this letter. Just you and me.
Sarah with her sister in Washington, DC.
I know, I know, I know how much effort you put towards making others happy appeasing others. I know it’s exhausting. Shit, just how much it takes to keep the parents from nagging is enough to crush any human being. And let’s not even talk about your friends classmates, teachers, society in general.
But I’m giving you permission a mission. Have the audacity to be yourself. Do what you want to do. Do what you feel is right. And only that. It’s much more than most people will ever do.
Live life so that you can live with yourself.
Don’t spend too much energy trying to make your Outside look like what everybody tells you it should. Finding yourself is not not not a fake-it-til-you-make-it situation. Your Inside will boil with resentment and it will weaken almost destroy you.
Sarah giving her Valedictorian Speech
Don’t pretend something makes sense when you know it doesn’t it’s bullshit. It’s not treachery to believe differently than your parents or teachers. Yeah, disagreeing with them will be painful redeeming. It only hurts because it matters. You’ll make it through. I promise.
When someone tries to get you to do something you don’t want to – you punch, kick, elbow, bite, rage against it. Sometimes this will be figurative, but a few times it will be literal. Be strong enough to do what I couldn’t didn’t.
The things you like love, the things you want need more than anything? They’re NOT WRONG. Being smart, being a nerd doesn’t make you less of a girl. Being outgoing doesn’t make you less smart, either.
In short, do what you want to do and we’ll figure out conquer the rest later. We always have.
And as they say in my new hometown: Don’t forget to be awesome.
Love always,
Sarah
Sarah Nicolas is an aspiring YA author, blogger, and mechanical engineer. She lives in Orlando with a singing-dancing-fool of a roommate and the cutest mutt on the face of the planet. Sarah’s the editor of Sift Book Reviews, a publishing intern, a contributor at YAtopia, and a member of the YA Rebels. She can be found at www.sarahnicolas.com and on twitter @sarah_nicolas.
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