What would you say to your teenage self?
Early next year, I’m giving a talk to a bunch of teenage girls about health, well-being and nutrition. My goal is to educate these young women, empower them, bust some nutrition-related myths, and help them build a healthy relationship with food.
It got me thinking, if I could offer some words of wisdom to my teenage self… what would I say? Below is a photo of me when I was 16 years old… doing anything and everything I could to get out of actually participating in our school sports day! I look at this photo, and remember how self-conscious I was about my body.
Here are a few things I would say to my teenage self:
- You are on a journey, which means things will change. Although it may seem like a challenging journey at times, it’s worth it. Learn to be adaptable, and go with the flow. In the same token, your body will change. This is normal, this is natural, don’t be alarmed.
- Learn about your body, and read about how your hormones work. Understanding this will help when you feel you have no control over your skin, emotions and sugar cravings!
- Don’t diet. Research shows that girls who diet in their early teenage years are THREE times more likely to become overweight 5 years later. All of these studies found that the SAME factors that predicted weight gain, also predicted the development of eating disorders. As I said, don’t diet. Simply learn how to eat well. Choose quality over quantity.
- Move more. Find something you like… dancing, swimming, walking… and do it often.
- Remember that it’s the effort you put into something that will determine your future success, not the achievement itself. Grades don’t matter, effort does.
- Be gentle with yourself. Feelings of shame, failure, self-disgust, resentment, wrong-doing and contempt are unhelpful.
- Thank your parents. They truly love you and want the best for you. Listen to them. Trust them. Respect them. BUT, realize you will soon be on your own, and that’s a good thing.
- Be grateful. Gratitude leads to happiness, success and wellness. You are blessed to have shelter, a good education, food stability, your health, a loving family and amazing friends. Remember that one day, in the not too distant future, you will be an old woman. Don’t rush through life, don’t take life too seriously, and when things get tough, remember that someone is always worse off than you are.
- Stop comparing yourself to others. Now. Curves are beautiful!!Eat healthier snacks. Two-minute noodles and homemade pizzas are NOT acceptable after-school snacks. Oh, and stop drinking so much juice.I encourage you to think about it… if you could write a letter to a teenage you, what would you say?
