WordPress Daily Writing Prompt 3

There’s no shortage of advice I would like to give my teenage self, but in the interest of time, I’ll pick the one statement that I feel would have had the most positive impact on my development:

No one thinks about you nearly as much as you do or think they do.

As teens, it feels like we’re perpetually under a microscope; every little decision is judged, every stammer feels like an unforgivable mistake. F.o.m.o. is firmly in the driver’s seat, and every missed opportunity is a devastating blow we can’t recover from. There’s just so much weight to every action—or inaction.

As I grow older, I become increasingly aware that everyone is focused on living their own lives (as they should be). Had I known the insignificance of my own actions and how little they would be held against me, I might have understood that learning is a lifelong process and taken more risks. I might have spent less time keeping myself down. Lived a little freer.

Dreamt a little bigger.