#tweetyour16yearoldself

Yes, I know what today yesterday is was - YAY FOR THE KINECT!! We just picked ours up (well, tsudoku did; I just picked up Dance Central - woo!), but I want to focus on something else just for a moment. After this post, I promise to get back to talking about the Kinect and my review of Dance Central and Kinect Adventures :)

Today we're going to focus on Twitter's trending topics. I admit, I love Twitter but sometimes (okay, a lot of times) Twitter’s trending topics are freakin' stupid to say the least. Trending topics, usually prefaced with a hash tag (#), range from international aid (Haiti, Indonesia, Darfur) to Hollywood gossip (Demi Lovato goes to rehab, Lindsay Lohan is sentenced to x amount of days in rehab, Mel Gibson knocks out his baby mama, and then goes to rehab). Today's Yestereday's trending topic, however, was one that I could actually relate with: #tweetyour16yearoldself, or tweet your 16 year old self.



Me & tsudoku in high school; we were both probably 16 here



It’s been 11 years since I was 16 and a lot has changed since then (thankfully). I wholly believe that this topic started trending because of the unfortunate tidal wave of teenage suicides that have been happening all over the country as of late. These young people were literally bullied to death because of their sexual orientation, or because they were smaller than everyone else, or because they weren’t citizens, or because they were just trying to fit in.

Like a lot of other kids, I was picked on during junior high and high school probably because I didn’t say hi to someone. But I never had it as bad as these kids. My heart breaks for them and if I could go back and tell those kids (and my own 16 year old self) something in 140 characters or less, it’d probably be along the lines of:

Don’t deny the person that you are. Your quirks, talents, and knowledge are needed in this world. You have to bypass a lot of crap in order for things to get better.

But why stop there? There's so much more that I would want to say. Like:

The ones that shoot you down are the ones that end up flipping burgers part-time while you’re eating lobster every weekend.

Teenage angst is only temporary (thankfully).

That douche that kept pushing you around? He’s not going to amount to much once you graduate college.

Sure she’s pretty and she’s dating the hottest guy in school, but she’s only gonna get fat next year.

Keep writing, in fact, just word vomit it out because it’s too easy to press the backspace button.

Keep your regrets in the back of your mind; it makes for awesome writing material.

You will regret it if you don't go to college; just pass the damn Algebra 2 class.

He is going to try to control every part of your life.

Those essays and B-average report cards are code for "you’re actually good at this writing thing."

Wanting to be a part of that popular clique is only going to get you grounded, in jail, with a DUI, or dead. 

Don’t define yourself by the clothes you wear, or the music you listen to, or the boys you date; your talents and compassion will get you further in life.  

You won’t know bits and pieces of everything until after you’ve graduated from college.

At the Drive-In is gonna break up in 2001 so go see them at CSUF before it’s over.

Mom and Dad seriously love you. (I probably needed to know this more than anything else).

My 16 year old self was probably just like your 16 year old self and when I look back, you can bet that I am totally embarrassed by my boorish, angst-filled, angry, emo, teenage behavior. I was never a bully in the physical sense, but that doesn't mean that I never hurt someone's feelings by saying something I shouldn't have (guilty). Would I change anything? No because it's all a growing experience; the point of living life is to learn from it, progress through it, and just keep moving forward. Do I regret anything? Of course! But what else can you do with regrets other than write about them and then keep pushing forward?

Seriously, 16 year old self and 27 year old self - it does get better and it keeps getting better.