15 Whispers to My 15-Year-Old Self
Life would’ve been a breeze if I had known these sooner
Imagine if you could turn back the clock for 15 years and offer yourself some much-needed advice. What would you say?
15 years ago marked my teenage beginner phase, where confusion reigned as everyone tried to redefine themselves based on their values. However, confusion tends to dominate since the executive function isn’t fully settled yet.
As I reflect on the past decade and a half, there are 15 valuable lessons I wish I had known back then.
15 — You are allowed to be selfish
As a former people-pleaser, I used to view selfishness as always negative.
In elementary school, I learned about PPKN, which taught me about social norms. A major lesson was that helping others makes you a good person. You might have thought being selfish was kinda bad.
Since both my mom and dad were people-pleasers too, I never had role models to show me the importance of setting boundaries in life.
Maybe that’s why my three siblings and I faced bullying as kids.
Feeling left out, avoided, only called upon when needed, and judged for saying no has become something we used to normalize.
