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Dear 16 Year Old Sophie,
One day you will be 29, but you’ll still have a ridiculously loud laugh
and a considerable amount of chub (sorry about that), and you’ll be happy. I
have a few things I’d like to let you in on.
The next few years living
with mum, dad and Shaun will be rough, but things get totally rad when you rent
a unit on the beach with Janelle and Ali. You’ll be apprehensive about Ali at
first because you don’t really know her, but you’ll become great friends and
her influence will change your opinion and views on something that will allow
someone pretty special to enter your life (more on that later). The single life
with these babes will be fucking amazing.
You won’t ever be skinny,
so get over “the fantasy of being thin” and focus on accepting and loving
yourself. You will find a form of exercise you like and gradually make steps
toward a healthier you. Don’t start smoking when you drink, because you’ll
really, really like it and find the
habit difficult to shake. Oh, and the words, “When I lose weight I will…” are
the most toxic and limiting words you can say to yourself. You can. NOW. And
you will…
Ditch the baggy Disney
t-shirts and cargo pants combo. I know it’s the 90s, but you can totally rock a
crop top. This awkward stage will go for a lot longer than the average teenage
girl because of your size, but that will pass and you’ll sure as hell make up
for lost time. That pair of vintage Doc Marten T-bars you’re about to buy
(because they’re the only shoes in the boutique that fit your size 11 feet) are
the first really sound fashion decision you make. Go you! Don’t despair the
lack of cute clothes in your size. Things get better. More options become
available. Remember those tears you cried in the David Jones changing room?
Yeah well – one day you will have a fashion blog because of ALL THE PRETTY
THINGS! Astonishing, right? There will come a day when plus size women will
find their style and confidence. Be patient.
Don’t take church so
seriously – it’s not your part time job. Right now it’s your “everything” and
one day you will realize that you threw your life into it because it allowed
you to hide from a world you were fearful of. Keep your faith close to your
heart, don’t allow yourself to be pressured by church leaders and always,
ALWAYS think for yourself. Listen to your instincts. If your favourite band
comes to town on a Friday night, skip youth group (STOMP was it?) and go.
You’ll regret those lost opportunities.
You will experience a few
years of unemployment throughout university that will get you down a bit, but
don’t stress – you’ll end up with a few casual jobs to juggle. Mum is right –
you’ll ditch the social work and become a teacher, but you’ll also delve into
some other arenas too! I have to leave a few surprises…
You think about sex quite
a bit and feel guilty because only boys think about sex that much. You’ll soon
learn how bullshit that is and that your thoughts are perfectly normal and
healthy and one day you will grieve the amount of time you felt guilty for
things you believed were sinful (which aren’t).
Keep reading! It’s your
lifeblood. Lori Wick is not the only good author, though. And get your hands on
some feminist material. It will make you a better person in a hundred different
ways.
Don’t stress about
romance. Guys at church don’t look at you, so you worry about not being the
“Brooke Fraser” type of girl. I know you feel undesirable most of the time, but
you’ll unleash your inner bombshell eventually (and kiss lots of boys). And
best of all – you will meet THE BOY - a really sweet one, who is obsessed with
cars and sticking googly eyes on things and YOU. He’ll be cheeky and fun and
make you laugh all the time.
You and your sister
Chelsea end up being pretty close (your boyfriends will get along great too).
You won’t mind hanging out with Shaun and your relationship with your mum and
dad end up being pretty rad.
At this moment, when you
walk into a room full of people, you look around and you wonder, with
apprehension, if they will like you. Now, when you walk into a room full of
people, you wonder if you will like them.
Because you are the shit (in a totally healthy, self-love kind of way, haha!).
This post was inspired by Rachele's over at The Nearsighted Owl (here)
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