These letters were part of Dear Me: a Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self, a 2009 project to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Some of them are funny (love the one from Jonathan Ross), some of them are practical and some of them are a bit of both. I think I see a bit of myself in 16-year-old Emma Thompson.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self?
Link
Enjoy your hair.
Love,
31-year-old Will
If I could slap you across the face right now, I would. Slacking off in school is stupid and smoking pot does not make you cool. Your friend Justin is a bad influence and does not amount to anything later in life. Stop hanging out with him. Your metabalism will eventually slow down, so eat all you can now, but slow down in your mid twenties. Embrace your skinniness. Respect your parents. They do a lot for you now and continue to do so for the rest of your life. Don't do anything stupid. Your 4 years in college will be the most fun years of your life, but when the party is over, then the party is over. Get it? When you turn 27 your wife will give birth to your son and you don't want to miss out on that. Your son will become the center of your world. He is awesome. You should look forward to meeting him.
Your 29 year old self
1) Be nice to your parents. You are going to appreciate them so much more when you get older, so don't aggravate them over petty stuff like housework now.
2) Talk to them. Tell them about the things that make you feel sad, worthless, like an outsider. Maybe they can fix it, maybe they can't, but they can't do a thing if they don't know about it.
3) Spend more time with your grandmothers. Pay attention to everything they have to pass on.
4) Keep a journal. Consistently. You'll appreciate this too as you get older.
5) Love your friends. You have good ones.
6) Don't ever let anything stop you from writing, drawing, and dreaming.
7) You are worthwhile, you are talented, and you are strong. Even if you don't feel like you are.
8) James isn't worth it.
9) Karma works.
10) No matter what it feels like now, life is relatively simple compared to "the real world."
Usually trolls adopt attitudes that aren't their own in order to garner a response, or they post something deliberately inflammatory. I don't believe my criticism of this was anything more than a criticism, and well-stated at that. If anything, it appears that your response is off-topic and inflammatory, deliberately trying to evoke a negative response. Please don't be a troll. It's not cool to insult strangers on the web.