Spotlight 25-26

Here I am decades later, to tell my 13 year old self: you won’t remember the code to your secret diary so don’t worry what you vent in that! You are still friends now with many of your friends from when you were 13, and unbelievably we have our own families now, some of whom are teenagers, which definitely seems weird. You’ll achieve the exams, the driving test, University and many different jobs, but then you’ll realise that your actual self has got a bit lost in getting all these milestones ticked off. What makes you you is not this list. You’ll feel low and things will go wrong, you will make mistakes. You’ll absolutely hate not being in control when this happens…but you will keep going. You’ll be most proud of yourself when you manage to stay calm and kind under pressure. And eeesh! You put yourself under such pressure! You’ll remember the adventures you have had, the people who make you laugh. You will realise that those people who are not nice to you, fade into insignificance over time. They said and did those things because they were not happy in themselves, and you can do very little about them. It won’t affect who you’ll become. You will learn that, in fact, you are powerless over so much in your life. I know you won’t believe it, but most of happiness in your life will come from letting something go, rather than forcing things forward. So sit back, take it easy for a while. Try not to rush every waking minute. Have as much fun as you possibly can. Remember, you can’t control other people, you can only control how much they affect you. I know you’ll roll your eyes at this, and go off laughing with your friends, and that’s OK too. Pssst: I’m proud of you!