One step at a time, you'll get there soon enough

(Plinky Prompt: What would you say to your 16 year old self…initial response: what is the sound of smacking one’s 16 year old self upside the head?)

You know what? 16 is a terrible age but it will be over soon – sooner than you can imagine and then you’ll be…17. Okay, that’s not much better, really but it is progress. The problem isn’t the age, sweetie, it’s life.

This is just the first few minutes of getting used to life as a grown up. A lot of folk will give you the “tomorrow is full of promise” and “you are the future, go out and demand your birthright”. Don’t believe them. Here’s the quote to live by, “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first”.

Believe in yourself. You can do it. Don’t get put off by thinking something is too complicated or will be too hard. Take the easy way out and you’ll soon find yourself standing in a back alley wondering how you could go through so many doors and all it got you was here.

Don’t judge other people. The hardest part of being 16 is knowing everything about the world but nothing about life. Life does things to people, changes them and takes them on different paths than they intended. Don’t judge anyone but do try to understand them and listen to your intuition.

Where-ever you go, be there and enjoy it. You are making memories and, trust me, you will want to enjoy them. There will be a lot of memories you won’t enjoy but the irony is you won’t know which they are until a few years have gone by. Sometimes what seems like a good idea at the time isn’t. And what seems like a terrible time is terrible but you will look back on it and see the importance of it; that makes it a good memory.

That’s enough for now. Oh, and don’t listen to all that crap like “Go quietly amongst the…”: or “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” or “sunscreen”…okay…remember sunscreen but a hat is good too. I’ve never regretted keeping the sun off my face or avoiding tanning. Mostly because of what I was doing while wearing the hat and just lying there in the sun when you could be doing something has ALWAYS been a waste of time.

Travel. A lot. Don’t stop anyone from travelling and don’t pass up on any chance to travel…Just trust me on this one.

Just climb on and enjoy the ride