I never thought I’d see the day where I would be dishing out advice.
Actually that’s a lie, I’m always willing to share my opinion and very few years of knowledge I have gathered so far. So when one of my besties, Leigh, asked a few of us to send through our words of wisdom for her younger sister, who’s about to turn 18, I knew that I’d have loads to say.
• There’s a difference between being a sex symbol and a sex object. Sex and being sexy are very powerful things. Understand that a symbol stands for something, while an object is simply inanimate. It’s not a crime to be sexy, or to have people think that you’re sexy, but back it up with some intellience/kindness/personality. Know it and own it.
• The sloppy-drunk-girl is not a good look. Neither is puking-in-a-potplant-Peggy, Stumbling-in-stilettos-Stacey or hooking-up-with-everyone-Hannah. I’ve been those girls, those girls don’t feel good the next morning. But you’ll learn those lessons yourself. Just make sure you puke in something and not on someone. This will more than likely cause a fight (possibly inside Steers, at the Engen in Claremont, and leads to fist-friendly-Fiona. She’s not cool at all.)
• You don’t have to like wine. Or Jagermeister. Or patrone. Or whatever is big at the moment. I hated Four Cousins, but I drank such copious amounts of it because I thought it was cool to drink wine, that the mere smell of it now makes me want to vom. Not cool. Same goes for tequila - which will land you in that drunk-girl phase I was speaking about. Consume with caution. And always with salt and lemon.
• Don’t worry about or try to plan your perfect future. Just know the direction you’re going in. It’s useless to make a year-by-year, step-by-step goal plan, ‘I’ll get married at 26, have a baby at 28, be a boss by 32’ etc etc. There’s no map book to life - you’ll take wrong turns, have fender benders and meet hills you think you can’t manage, but you can and you will.
• Fear is incredibly dangerous. I don’t mean fear of completely normal things like sharks, spiders and doorknobs (totes understandable - the germs and bacteria and uuuughhhhh….). I’m talking about fear of the unknown, fear of speaking out, fear of being yourself. It will cut you to shreds, make your life less fabulous than it ought to be and just generally stifle love, creativity and beautiful experiences. So go ahead - look fear in the eye, take all your clothes off and go skinny dipping.
• Intelligence is sexy! Don’t dumb yourself down - not to make a boy like you, not to make someone feel better about themselves and not to make people laugh. Being stupid isn’t funny. Being clever and witty are traits that can be learned. Know your current events and share your knowledge.
Anyway, those are just a few of them off the top of my head. Enjoy, go out and live your life fabulously!
