What my TEENAGE years taught me

The terrible teens. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to see the end of them. I know people say to enjoy the age and stage you’re in because you’ll never be young again … I get it, and I enjoyed some of my teenage years but I was so ready to hit my 20s a couple of weeks ago and leave those teen years behind. 

Yay, welcome to the 20s club Charlie!

The teenage years, how to describe them. A lot of fun, tears, loneliness, laughs, awkwardness, OVERthinking, crushes, puberty, laughs, the list goes on. 

I think like a lot of people, the teenage years for me were quite challenging, but with that challenge came a whole lot of learning and growing up. 

I learnt so much about myself and so many lessons over the years, so here’s few things that my teenage years taught me … 

Friends come and go

Different people will come into your life all through your life and wont necessarily be there to stay. In all friendships and relationships we learn so much from other people and while at the time, their friendship is what you need it may not always be like that. It's okay to move on from friendships and put more energy into others. The teenage years definitely taught me a lot of self worth and the type of people I want to be surrounded with and how I want to and deserve to be treated. Quality over quantity. Everyone deserves to be surrounded with people that lift them up and make them feel good about themselves, find those people! I also think keeping an open mind is so key with friendships and relationships, you never know when you’re going to meet those people that will have such a big impact on your life. (I have found it truly happens when you least expect it) Treat people how you want to be treated and be kind. 

Value your parents - they aren’t the bad guys

I am the oldest so for my poor parents it was new territory for them too. I learnt that when your parents worry, set you “unfair” curfews, wont let you go to things, or say no it's not because they hate you (dramatic) or don’t want you to be social, it's because they love you and they care for your wellbeing. While it's annoying, my parents sometimes know me better than I know myself and they always have my best interests at heart even when I can't see that! Thanks Mum and Dad you rock, sorry for those grumpy teenage years! 

Make time for your family

Especially grandparents! I am so lucky to have 3 out of the 4 of my grandparents still around and while it is not a topic I like to talk about, life is getting shorter for them. Our grandparents are some of the wisest people we are lucky enough to know, listen to them and learn from them. I have insanely special grandparents and I am so grateful for the relationship I have with them, I mean we call my grandad ACE - you don’t get much cooler than that! 

If you have read some of my other posts you would also know I am one of four kids in my family. I’m the oldest. My sisters and brother are some of the coolest people I know! I can always rely on them to be brutally honest (brutally being the key word there) for good advice, endless entertainment and laughs. I love them and I know in my teenage years that they copped a lot of stressed Charlie, did a lot of dishes for me - thanks team - but they also learnt a lot from me going ahead of them, so there is some perks coming after someone else. 

Don’t wish your years away

Life is so short! We have no idea what is around the corner. Do things that make your heart sing, hang out with people that make you feel a million bucks and do the things that you’ve always dreamed of doing. 

Fight the fights and win the wars

You get a bit more of a reality check in your teenage years about what life is really like. I hate to break it to you, but its not always fair and things happen all the time that are out of your control. You learn how to deal with situations and really fight to win the wars and learn when you just need to let it go. 

Everything happens for a reason

I used to absolutely despair with this saying! And now I love to live by it. I have been through some pretty challenging times, most in my teenage years and for the life of me I couldn’t imagine why there would be a reason for what was happening. But there is a silver lining in every situation. That silver lining might be a lesson, a person, anything really. Even when stuff feels like its really hard, I like to believe it happens for a reason and at some point everything falls into place and you always learn something from it. Cheesy at it may sound - what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Sometimes things in life go left instead of right because you were always meant to go left, you just don’t realise it yet.  

It's super cool to be yourself

No one is you, so you do you and rock it. I spent so many of my teenage years not truly being myself because I was worried what people would think. But everyone is a bit weird and a bit different. We are all unique and have so much to bring to the world in our own different ways. Care less what people think and you do you! If you like who you are, then it honestly doesn’t really matter what other people think. 

Money doesn't grow on trees

Start saving now, put a certain amount of money away a week in an account you can’t touch, it will all add up! My parents will probably laugh at that one because I seriously need to take my own advice. Enough said. 

Love yourself

Cellulite, warts and all. We get one body and instead of spending hours hating on ourselves and our flaws, you just gotta embrace them! You are you and you are beautiful, there is no-one out there like you. Be who you want to be and love everything about yourself (easier said than done I know) 

Being selfish isn’t always a bad thing

Putting yourself as a number one priority isn’t always bad. I like to think that if you don’t look after yourself and your health and happiness first, you can't look after anyone else or be the best version of you. I learnt to be really honest with myself about what I actually needed for my own happiness and made some changes. It's not easy and it's hard but it's worth it. 

Hard work will not always equate to success

You can put up a good fight and still lose. There are just some things that, for whatever reason, just don’t go your way. They are speed bumps along the way, and what I’ve learnt is that you can't give up. Maintain your strong work ethic and continue to work hard even if sometimes it doesn’t result in the success that you thought it might at the start of your journey. 

You don’t have to have it all figured out or know who you are … 

just try and enjoy the journey. Make mistakes, fail and keep smiling! 

I hope if you are in your teenage years or even past them, that this helped someone even in the slightest or you could relate. 

Enjoy whatever stage you are at in your life, we only get one shot at it. I think we forget that sometimes. Be HAPPY now and enjoy this stage! 

So here's to my 20’s and all the lessons I have to learn, the fun thats to be had, to love, loss, smiles, tears and lots and lots of laughs! I’m excited to see whats to come in the future 

As always I’d love to hear from you 

Love and Health, 

Charlie xo