You are seen walking around the mall with your groups of friends, wearing your crop top and short shorts, sipping on your Starbucks and excitedly talking about the party you got invited to this weekend. You talk about how drunk you are going to get and how you hope the older boys will notice you. You mention that you will be the coolest girl in high school, even though you haven't started yet. At 14, you think you have it all. Except you don't.
You have plenty of time for crop tops and boys, trust me. You have plenty of time to be stressed out about school. You have plenty of time to be worried about your job. You have plenty of time to worry about money. You have plenty of time to be an adult.
I've been there before, and not all that long ago. Once upon a time, I was a teenager with many of the same thoughts and feelings. I was constantly told that things would be much different and that I shouldn't "wish my life away." I wish I would've taken that piece of advice.
I know you think that life is tough, and I know you think that your parents are out to get you. Everything that they do is out of love and don't ever forget that. They want what's best for you, and though you may not realize it now, you will thank them later. There's a reason that they wanted you to stay home and study for your algebra test instead of going to your best friend's sleepover. One day, you will understand and appreciate these simple little things.
Those people that you spend so much time trying to impress will one day have you wondering why. If there's anything to be learned from growing up, it's that you shouldn't cry over somebody who wouldn't cry over you. Once graduation is over and everyone goes their separate ways, you will begin to realize who your true friends are. College will start, and as the months turn to years, you begin to drift farther and farther apart. The ones that are still sticking by you after all of that are the ones who will stick by you forever.
Heartbreak happens. It's awful and you feel like the world is crashing down around you, but it is unfortunately a part of life that will happen more than once. That boy at that party that you finally got to talk to asks you out on a date—then you find out that he has asked two other girls the same thing. The way I see it, heartbreak can almost be looked at as a good thing; the more heartache you endure, the closer you get to your happily ever after. As much as it sucks right now, and I know it does, things will get better. They always do.
As you walk from store to store today, stressing about what heels to get and what makeup to wear, hoping that a senior boy will ask you out and that your parents will believe you when you say that you're staying at a friend's house that night, you are unaware that all of these concerns will be laughable in only a few years. One morning, you're going to wake up in a room, in your own house in a college town with a stack of homework and bills on your desk, wondering where the time has gone. In the meantime, don't forget to hangout with your parents every once in a while, because they're cooler than you think. Take your younger siblings to the movies, because you're going to miss them when you graduate and move out. Enjoy every little moment of your youth. You don't get these years back.
