Daily writing prompt

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

View all responses

Aside from “Invest in bitcoin”? I have a few pieces of advice I’d like to give a young Kallia.

Give your bullies the opposite reaction they want.

You won’t realize this until senior year of high school, but bullies look for negative reactions only. They think it’s funny when you cry and swear. Ignoring them just makes them escalate to pushing you around and throwing things. You need to either laugh hysterically, or say things like “I love you, too.” They’ll think you’re a weirdo, but at least they’ll leave you alone.

Minor in Video Game Design.

You love computers, but deep down, you love video games more. You already like making things with your own hands, and having those hands at a keyboard just feels right. So, why not build yourself a game? I realize there are a lot of aspects of game design, so figure out which one really speaks to you, then focus in on it. Keep your major in IT to shut Mom and Dad up, but never give up on your passion.

Don’t go back to the financial firm.

It’s bad enough that you weren’t able to get a job right out of college. It’s even worse that you had to move back in with Mom and Dad. Not helping matters is going back to the financial firm you worked at during high school. Your boss will change from the sweet old lady to her asshole husband.

Nothing you do will be good enough. He’ll expect you to do the jobs of three people, but only pay you a dollar more than the summer interns. He’ll be civil to you around other people, but armchair racist/sexist to you in private. He’ll actively sabotage your efforts to get a different job, despite you telling him that you weren’t planning on staying since you don’t have a financial adviser’s license. Your mental health will go downhill, and you’ll dread waking up every day. For the love of fuck, don’t go back to the financial firm.

EAT.

Your issues with food start in high school, and will continue well into adulthood. Even now, you feel some kind of way about going to eat at a sitdown restaurant alone. You still feel like you can’t eat around members of your family. But, at the end of the day, you need to eat. Just by only drinking water, you become anemic, and the lack of protein will make your hair fall out (it grows back, though, and thicker than before). Even if it’s junk food, it’s better than NO food.

The second you turn 18, start therapy.

You did not turn out okay after being spanked and lectured for hours on end as a child. You’re going to have trouble processing your emotions well into your 30s. Start learning from now, especially since 2018 will be one of the worst years of your life. Your mental health will be the lowest it ever was, to the point where you are seriously considering ending it all. You can’t talk to your parents about it, any journal you own gets read by other people, your siblings are in similar boats, and your friends can only do so much.

Your first therapist will be a great guy who lets you know what your issues are, and gives you tools to better manage them. Ironically, by putting you into a diagnosis “box,” you’ll feel freer than you’ve felt in years.

You will be okay eventually.

It will take a lot of time, work, and tears. You will doubt yourself often, and wonder if there is a point to all of your effort. But, there is. You have a great job in the IT field. You’re in a nice apartment. You have a support system of friends and family that you love dearly, and who love you in return. You are doing about as well mentally and physically as can be expected in 2025.

And as Future You sits at a computer desk typing this post, you will realize that while things are far from perfect, you’re okay with things just being okay.