25 Lessons For a 15 Year Old Girl

I used to have a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in 1001 days. Then, I found other things I wanted to do, and stopped working on the list. One of my undone 101 things, was to write a letter to my teenage self. Recently, Raam Dev wrote a some advice for his younger self and reminded me that this was an important task.

When I actually sat down and started writing, I realized that while I could have used the advice back then. I probably wouldn’t have listened, but maybe my 15 year old daughter will.

Dear Bailey on your 15th Birthday,

I am so proud of the girl you have been, the person you are today, and the woman you will become. I hope one day, (maybe even today) that some of these lessons I’ve learned, will help make your journey even more powerful.

1. Letting go is not the same as giving up.
2. If you find something that you really love doing, learn it, master it. Don’t worry if you don’t stick with it though, because it will come back to you.
3. A broken heart will hurt more than a broken arm. Don’t use it as an excuse to love less. You decide if the break weakens or strengthens your heart.
4. Love someone enough to make decisions that they might not like, even if that someone is you.
5. Always act from a place of compassion and you will change someone’s life.
6. You are skinnier than you think you are.
7. Sleep enough, you can play more tomorrow.
8. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up. Just decide who you want to be today.
9. Save some money. Compound interest is your friend.
10. God will be there when you are ready and he is big enough for your questions.
11. Build more relationships in your neighborhood than you do on your computer.
12. Don’t wait until you are 40 to try eggplant and other foods that you think are weird.
13. Eat more greens.
14. If someone tells you something that you don’t want to hear. Listen anyway. Someday, you might appreciate the advice.
15. Never put anything you don’t want the world to know, today or in 50 years, in writing.
16. Your world is not the world.
17. Laugh hard.
18. Cry.
19. Apologize.
20. You can’t fix everything.
21. Be kind to yourself. Treat your body well, it’s the only one you get!
22. Music really can make a bad day better.
23. Credit cards never get you where you want to go.
24. Going through bad stuff and spending time with bad people, makes you really appreciate good stuff and good people.
25. I am always here for you. Even when you think I’m not.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less & share on twitter.