Letter to my Younger Self

To my younger, more simpler self,

How's it going? Take a seat, you are about to get some high quality information knocked into you. I am writing to you today from 5 years in the future. Why? Because you need to get your life in order before you go into highschool. Before your big day starts however, I need you to do me a quick favour. If you're not already in your room, go there. See all those One Direction posters stuck on your mirror? Those need to be taken down immediately; throw them in the fire, it's embarrassing. They're going to break up within the next few years anyway. Doesn't that feel better? For you, probably not, but I feel great. Anyway, you're probably wondering why I've written to you. You see, I am here to give you some much needed advise on the future that stands before you, so bestow this valuable material as it will be the only important information you will need in the next few years.

Right now you are close to moving into highschool; from now on, your life will become a little more stressful each year. There in no need to worry though (you will do plenty of that later on), you are going to be fine. In fact, you will excellent. Don't get ahead of yourself however, there will be days were you feel on top of the world and others where you just want to fade away from everything. Let me tell you this now, that is totally okay. You do not always have to paint a smile to mask your feelings. Do you know something else you don't have to do? Spend so much time and energy in making the people around you happy, instead of focusing a little bit more on yourself. Otherwise you will never have time to fix your own problems.

Something I cannot stress about more is your attitude towards your parents, stop being such a difficult teenager and treat them with a bit of respect. Mum and Dad are only trying to care for you, so take what they say to heart instead of throwing it back in their faces. Your family will always be there for you, accept your choices, and are always willing to listen to what's on your mind. Having a bad day? Tell them about it. Someone hurt your feelings? Tell them. Found a guy you like? Tell someone. They are proud of you and obviously love you very much. If there is ever a time when they get on your nerves, do not argue; all you have to do is walk away and calm down. You will later regret fighting with them and question why you acted the way you did. So please, don't be a pain in the ass.

I did, and you will, make some good and bad choices throughout your highschool years. You will later on be faced with the same situations I had to experience, so choose wisely. For example, will you cut your hair short, get a smiley piercing or dye your hair an obnoxious colour? Spoilers: it's all of the above. Take care when choosing, I may not be the same person I am today if I hadn't have made some of those choices. You must not forget that some of the things you decide on will have a butterfly effects on other aspects of your life.

For instance, some choices may interfere with your relationship shared between some of your closest friends and some you may not even consider as great friends yet. I won't tell you the specific event (mainly because I'm not too sure of it myself) that caused your bet friendship to crash catastrophically because I believe that it helped me move on and become a better person. What I'm trying to say is that you will not have the same best friend/s for the rest of your life, one day you will both go your separate ways. Now that you know this, I want you to go create memories that will last a lifetime.

At school, the hardest years will no doubt be Year 9 and 10. For some reason, the teachers have decided to introduce more homework and even more exams. Having this extra work load is a major burden and will result in most of your days to be spent staying up late and weekends preoccupied. That part isn't all day, it's not like you do anything on the weekends anyway. There is no doubt that you will be stressed and experience breakdowns every now and then. It won't seem like it at the time, but these years of suffering will certainly help you immensely in the future. So there is no need to stress about every homework task that is set because you will complete them all and are going to achieve great results. Keep telling yourself to soldier through, there is no use in crying as it will not do any good. It will only waste the precious time you have. If you are having trouble are unsure about something, ask your teachers plenty of questions. They're there to help you, so you need to take advantage of the. My advice that will help you through highschool is that you need to try and complete more work in class, that way less has to be done in your own time. This may be difficult as your classes aren't always the most silent but you need to try. Remember, grades do not dictate who you are. Don't worry about the other students, in your class, it is pointless to compare yourself to those other class members. You are who you are, there is no need to fell like you have to compete against them; to get a better grade then someone else. If you get a low mark then such is life, you shouldn't need to hide or lie about it. Instead, be proud you didn't get a zero.

At Pemberton District High School you will experience so many amazing things like the Leeuwin, Work Experience in Perth and the Canberra Ski Trip. These opportunities will be the highlight of your highschool years. I can guarantee that you will absolutely love each of them. When I look back at them, I am highly thankful for every minute, and you should definitely be looking forward to these events in Year 10.

What if I told you that you'll meet a nice boy in the next few years? Don't get too excited, I was only joking. I will tell you that you need to learn to love yourself and accept you for who you are before catching feelings for someone else.

All in all, highschool will seem like a daunting marathon you need to finish (and we both know you can't run), a scary rollercoaster, and an even more upsetting experience then destroying your One Direction posters. Even though you may be trembling, at the moment, over the loss of your favourite boyband everything will work out perfectly. Highschool will be the best suffering of your life, you will learn to represent yourself through your art and through some of the choices I mentioned previously. You will learn a tone of important information, however this letter will be the greatest guide you can have.

Ashlyn Turner you are a great person and I can assure you that you will achieve excellent things. All I want you to do is to cheer up you beautiful loser.

Sincerely signed,

You from the future.