Dear 10-year old Christy

Dear 10-year old Christy,

It is a common misconception that once you grow older, life becomes easy. I am here to tell you that it does not, in any way. I am going to give you some advice on how to achieve maximum happiness :) DO NOT do anything that will break your parent's trust. Because if you do, you will be miserable. They will become more strict with you, and make your curfew early. In order to do this, you must either be sneaky, or not do bad things. I, of course, just did not do bad things. But sometimes they think you are, so you must be prepared for this. DO NOT use the excuse "But everyone else is doing it!" Your parents will only throw it back in your face by saying that you are not everyone else. They don't care what your friends are doing and what you can't do. Also, do not let your guard down easily. Because chances are that someone will end up hurting you and you will feel like you can trust very few people again. One of the most important things is KEEP YOUR GRADES UP! It is not fun to have to cram at the end of the quarter to bring your grades up. If you do your homework/study, you will not have to worry about that and it is definitely the easy way out. Although it may not be fun, you will thank yourself later when you get into the college you want. Find a good group of friends that you can count on, and that will always be there for you. It feels nice knowing that you will always have someone to talk to. Lastly, always listen to what your mother says because because chances are she is right 99.9% of the time!!!! Good luck, 10-year old self, in the future.

From,

17-year old Christy

"When you grow old, your heart dies"

Adolescence is often said to be the best part of anyone's lifetime. You always see older people wishing they had their younger years back, if just one day to live like they used. Without basically caring about anything, knowing you had the rest of your life to accomplish things. When you are young, it is easy to love and to waste your time on things that won't necessarily matter in the long run. Your heart is strong, and you are willing to let people in. You are alive, and ready to go after life. Adolescence is about having fun and enjoying everyday. It is about looking forward to the rest of your life and what it will bring. It is about knowing that you will have the people you care about in your life for a very long time. It is about making mistakes, and learning from them. As adolescents, you don't think about how you will feel when you are older or how you will not be able to enjoy the same things. You look into the future, and imagine a life where you are happy and where bad things don't happen. But when you grow old, your heart becomes to hurt and ache for the way you feel during your adolescence, when you know that you will never be able to relive that in this lifetime.