dear 16 year old me.

i have the attention span of a five year old, so being contained on a plan for 2.5 hours as an adult (read: can't throw a tantrum) is difficult. i wasn't particularly invested in the book i was reading and i couldn't fall asleep so my options were airline magazine and sky mall. however they ended up giving me an idea for this post that i marinated over during my 5.5 mile bridge loop run last night

the first thing i read was an article about a book of letters celebrities wrote to their 16 year old selves. its amazing how different you are from when you were 16 and what would have been helpful for an older you to tell yourself back then.

the next thing that struck my interest was in the sky mall magazine. it was a sign with a quote from christopher robin talking to winnie the pooh. it read "promise me you'll always remember you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." i thought it was so profound that i took out my phone, put it on airplane mode (what does this accomplish really) and typed it out on my notepad.

it wasn't until mile three of my run last night that i put the two ideas together. if i was writing to myself at 16, i would tell me what christopher robin told pooh.

you're braver than you believe.
you will accomplish and do things you can't imagine right now. you will move far away from friends and family and that new community will be come your own. you will have the opportunity to travel new places to build homes for people that need them. you will get up on a roof and do work that is so much more important than that book report. or that boy you are crushing on. you will take leaps of faith and it will be ok.

you're stronger than you seem.
i know you are really into dance and golf right now but someday you will run a half marathon and find out how strong you really are. you laugh because you can't even run a mile right now and would never lace up and head out the door. but running will give you a sense of accomplishment and strength which will spill into every other area of your life. you're capable of more than you realize.

you're smarter than you think.
true, math doesn't make any sense. it won't really get any better, but that's ok. you will put together a 5k that will raise loads of money for a good cause. you will buy a house all by yourself when you are 25. (ok math would have helped here). you may not go to unc but that will not define you. you are smart when it counts, despite what that physics test says.  give yourself more credit.

some other things you should know include (but are not limited to):
your mom will always be right, and she'll always be your very best friend.
enjoy that pizza every night and two donuts for dessert while you can.
you will never have abs. see previous note.
do something with your hair.
that bump in your nose. learn to love it, its not going away.
it really is better to give than to receive.
that college that you and you're sister proclaimed "we would never go here." you're going there.
don't be afraid to try.
don't be afraid to fail.

you don't know everything. you still won't even when you're 27.

what would you say to your 16 year old self? what will i say to my 27 year old self in 10, 20, 50 years?