10 Things

I was recently perusing on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/), which if you haven't discovered is GREAT! I can pretend that I actually have a decor gene - which I do NOT - because I am incredibly capable of following directions for someone else's great idea! I have successfully made numerous recipes, with mostly favorable reviews, and even knocked out some cleaning tips, decorating ideas and crafty things. Very proud of myself! So, as I was perusing tonight, I came across someone else's blog and it listed "30 Questions To Ask Each Other." And I began reading the list...and realized that it would be fun to answer some of them here. So, it is my goal to do some more frequent posting and use some of these questions as insipration...


Here's today's question: List 10 things you would tell your 16-year old self if you could.


Okay, I'm not sure I can come up with 10, but we'll see...

#1) It will all turn out okay - because at 16, who isn't worrying about the future? Who isn't freaked out about leaving home and going to college and just growing up.

#2) Trust yourself - I think I've been pretty good at this, but I wish I could have known that my own mind was good enough and staying true to myself will get me far in life.

#3) Take care of your health - Probably my single greatest wish for a "do-over!" It is SO much harder to create a healthy, fitness-minded lifestyle at 30-something than it would have been to just maintain it as a teenager and into adulthoood. Maybe not terribly realistic, but so. much. easier.

#4) You will find "the one." - Because in my mid-20s, as I went to wedding after wedding, and served as bridesmaid in SIX weddings, I was beginning to doubt this one. Wouldn't have traded the experiences I had along the way, but just knowing it was going to happen might have eased my mind.

#5) Making the effort to maintain relationships is worth it! - Because little did I know, but the best friends I had at 16 are still among the besties I have now. Distance or not, we've always remained a part of each other's lives. And I'm so, so glad.

#6) Live more and take more risks...within reason - Never a daredevil have I been, but I sincerely wish I wouldn't have been such a darn chicken about so many things. Following rules is fine, but it gets a little boring sometime to always be the one that's the "adult" in the room - even when we were 21. Another of my greatest wishes for a "do-over." Live a little more spontaneously...

#7) Life will sometimes suck...and you will be okay - Enough said.

#8) You will get to know your grandparents better - We always lived far away from my grandparents growing up...like states away. When I came to college 10 minutes from them, I got to have a relationship with them for the first time in my life. We grew up without Skype, cell phones or even e-mail, so I did not really know my grandparents well until I was an adult living near them. Even though my dad's parents have sinced passed away, I got to know my grandfather well and am grateful every day for the fact that my 88-year maternal grandparents are still alive, well, and living just minutes from me.

#9) Technology will change the way you live your life - Not sure this is such a good thing, but I don't think at 16 I had any comprehension of what technology was to come. Email, cell phones, the Internet, DVRs, Skype, SmartBoards, iPods, laptops, Facebook...the list is endless.

#10) Follow your heart - Because at the heart of it all, no one can make your decisions for you. At the end of the day, we all have to make our own decisions, own them and live with them. Ultimately, I have to sleep with myself at night and the choices I make. I never want to regret my path in life, so I think this is the most important one.

Well, I guess I could think of 10!

Erica