I am aware that I do not know everything, I am aware that I hardly know anything and that I am still learning a lot about life and relationships and how to just be a functioning human being that doesn't give in to her want to sit in bed and watch Netflix all day (which I have been doing for the past two days by the way, okay the last week stop asking!) but I have learned a little bit, and there have been so many times in my life where I have done something or gone through something and wished that I could have seen that coming, that I somehow had the knowledge to change the twisted fate that I had recieved. Here are 12 things that I wish someone would have told me when I was 12.
12.) You are jealous of those teenage girls at the food court pizza line being hit on by that random guy, but don't be. Don't feel insecure because he isn't trying to flirt with you, you are 12. When you turn 16 and figure out how to apply mascara with proper caution and you know when to hold back on the eyeliner, you will be flirted with. And when your time has come and you are being hit on in the pizza line in the food court, while it is flattering yet kind of super disgusting, the line "I am sorry I would really like to get to know you but I have a boyfriend," works like a charm. Because trust me, no one wants a boy who sits around the food court at Chandler Mall trying to pick up girls for a boyfriend.
11.) Be friends with friends who make you laugh until your root beer spits out of your nose, friends that will try on hideous gowns with you in department stores and friends that you can confide in. The years coming up are challenging and thrilling and scary, and you will need some good backup when the storm hits hard.
10.) Take your mom's advice!!! Maybe I was just blessed with a mother who, as much as I do not want to admit it, is right about pretty much everything. Take her boy advice because guess what, she once liked a boy too and probably has a bit more experience in that department than you. I remember jumping into the car freshman year and screaming with my heart fluttering oh so fast, "MOM THE CUTE BOY WITH THE CUTE HAIR SAID 'heyyy McKenzie.'" and then she and I would carefully disect every moment of that interaction, and she would tell me what I should do next. Also while on the subject of moms, tell them everything. I remember the day after my first kiss I casually said with a squeal "guess what I did last night mom, I kissed a boy," and she was SO MAD at me that I didn't go and wake her up when I got home to tell her. And telling her was exciting. Friends are important, but your mom always has your best interest in mind, she is always rooting for you and you don't have to worry that her advice will backfire in the sense that she is secretly crushing on the same boy as you- like a friend might.
9.) You think boys are tough now? You think it is annoying how shy and awkward boys are? Wait until you get in highschool and those annoying boys suddenly become even cuter (if you can imagine that is possible) yet they still are annoying and awkward and sometimes shy, so now you have a dreamy boy sitting next to you who somehow just got 400 times more complicated in every way. It just gets more fun from there! Boys are kind of really dumb when they're 12, and when they're 14 and when they're 16 and guess what even when they're 18, and pretty much everything in between and a lot after. So when a boy is being dumb to you, remember "he is dreamy, but he is not the sun. You are."
8.) Kissing really is as great as everyone says and it isn't one of those overrated things. Also your first kiss will come, everyone has ones so just wait, your time will come young baby. Plus, I disagree with my mom on this- she says we learn from everything and all of that great stuff- but as Derek Shepherd puts it "every kiss before the right kiss doesn't matter anyway."
7.) Sometimes you will feel like you just didn't make the cut. Kind of like that selfie that wasn't cute enough for Instagram but not ugly enough for Twitter, you just didn't make it. Whether you didn't make the volleyball team or you didn't get the job or the boy didn't fall for you- you may feel as though you fall short, but trust me, if anything that boy who didn't like you back is cutting himself short because you, my dear, you are the sun. You shine bright, you are above the cut and anyone who fails to meet you there is beneath that.
6.) It is never okay ever to steal another girls boyfriend!!! And I know, a girl cannot single handidly (weird and wrong word I know I am aware) take away a boy from another girl, but do not go for the boy that is already engrossed in a relationship- it is never worth it. And maybe the boy seems as though he is worth it, but is a boy who drops another girl for you, the kind that you want? What if in three months a girl that catches his eye comes along, you might have to worry about him dropping you too.
5.) Everything looks better on Instagram- oh wow what is that? You have never heard that before? No one in your life has ever told you that social media is not 100% truthful? Well you are in luck 12 year old McKenzie, because I am here to do the job! The thing is, some of my most memorable nights with friends actually are not photographed and filtered on Instagram, not every boy I have kissed I have taken a selfie with and tweeted it and not every exciting moment in my life is plastered on social media. A lot of it is, but still. It is so easy to fake happiness through an Instagram post, so when you think you are missing out on something because everyone else's Valencia filtered pictures of them "lunch dating <3" at costa vida are kind of killing your vibe, suck it up and remember you really like Some Burros more- and also you don't know what is going on behind the picture.
4.) Don't not wear something because no one else thinks it's cute, and don't wear something because everyone else things it's cute. I wore combat boots one day of my life my junior year and I still regret that decision, I never liked those. And I am sure that many of my outfits were judged with those "look up and down" eyes by girls who were thinking "why is she mixing a print with a print it kind of looks like a toddler dressed her," and then they would walk away with their nose higher than their GPA. Basically, wear what makes you feel happy, what makes you feel like your best self and what gives you the confidence to walk up to that cute boy in the cafeteria and give a flirty "hello," while in line for cheese fries.
3.) Probably learn to stop cringing everytime you walk past the bra and underwear sections in stores with your mom, because teenage girls like to talk about that stuff when they get older and you're going to have to get comfortable with that. As much as passing the underwear box in Target makes you want to crawl open the ground beneath you, suck it up and look the other way if you have to.
2.) Don't get hung up on not getting "that text back," or getting "hit with the reads," or that sinking feeling when he opens your snapchat and doesn't respond. There are two responses I tell myself when I find myself in the blues because of this. 1- He most likely is busy and just cannot answer me. 2- I do not want a boy who can't take 3 seconds out of his day to shoot me back a text to tell me he is busy so he will text me later. If a boy ignores your text, find a new boy to text. Heck go text his best friend, make the boy jealous. Whatever, you're young, boys are like a buffet- you can pick and choose what you want, because unfortunately they are going to play you, so you gotta play or get played.
1.) You are going to feel alone a lot in the next couple of years, you are going to have times where you feel fat, your hair looks gross, you do not measure up, you aren't smart enough, the list goes on. When those dark clouds come over you do not let yourself sink in too far, recognize what it feels like to be bummed so when you feel that feeling starting to come over you again you will know what you need to do to solve your situation.
12 year old McKenzie, you will flunk a final, land your dream job, loose friends and meet friends, learn to love Diet Coke, get your heart broken, break some hearts, learn to study the scriptures, be confused and lost but one day you will be listening to a sweet 10 year old bless the food and thank your Heavenly Father for you and you will realize that all of the hurt and sorrow you once felt sometime in your past is merely a memory. You will realize that sometimes people and things have to go out of your life, only to make room for better things to come. So heads up, you may never completely make it out of your "awkward phase," but you will find out about eyelash extensions and those help.
xoxo
