Thursday 15 November 2007

Things I wish I'd known then...

Today it's one of those beautiful but bitingly cold mornings.

Hurrying home from the school run to my lovely warm office I had a sudden vivid flashback to being about 15 years old and standing shivering with cold, misery and deep, deep resentment on a frosty hockey pitch during one of those endless, punishing PE lessons.

Suddenly I wanted very much to stride over the frozen mud to that scowling teenager (muttering a few choice words to the Nazi PE teacher on the way) and tell her it would all turn out alright. That one distant day, mildewed aertex and ritual humiliation in the name of team sports would be a thing of the past and she would be able to spend her days in the warm, dreaming up luscious men.

(I might also tactfully mention, while I was about it, that lusting after George Michael was a big fat waste of time...)

What would you tell your 15 year old self, if you had the chance?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on the George Michael thing. What a waste of romantic energy that could have been much better directed. As if that Tropicana video didn't have a million clues...
x Abby

Anonymous said...

From bitter experience I'd be incredibly strait-laced and say on no accounts fall in 'love' before passing your A levels. It WONT last and all it will do is drag down your grades. Cambridge or a damp poly in south Wales any one? I didn't listen to my parents obviously-Mmmm you live and learn!

Showing my age but it was Andy Summers, guitarist in the Police for me-strange child! He's still looking pretty good though!
Rach.
XXX

Unknown said...

It was the Bad Boys video that used to do it for me Abby. At 15 I just thought all that leather biker gear was really macho...(shakes head in sadness for lost innocence)

Ooh, I did that too, Rach! Heart so broken I decided not to go to my Oxford interview, but I have to maintain that this was a fabulous stroke of luck as I met my husband at Manchester...

Andy Summers is lush. Much less cringe-making than George Michael or (embarrassed, distracting cough) Simon Le Bon.

Eva said...

I'd tell my fifteen-year-old self that lusting after Tom Selleck was/is not a waste of time - a glorious guy is out there and you're going to meet him in just a few years.

And have confidence in yourself: you need only set the example, and others will believe in you too.

Kath McGurl said...

I'd say - don't take physics A level, take English Lit, or you'll always regret it, when you become a writer in later life.

Also - those big frilly blouses that went with the early Duran Duran years, they're not a great fashion statement, hun.

Amanda Ashby said...

I'd politely mention that mullets and plastic earrings weren't really quite the fashion statement I imagined them be (oh, and lose the DEVO badges as well)

KellytheCulinarian said...

Oh man, if I had known a ton of things, even a year ago.

Unknown said...

Blimey Kelly, you're so right! There's a whole new train of thought there-- like, I'd like to tell the myself of last week not to even BUY that multi-pack of eensy weensy chocolate bars 'for the children' because it was obvious all along who was going to eat them...

Tom Selleck, eh Eva? You dark horse. But spot on with the confidence thing... if only I could make my daughter believe that too.

womagwriter, absolutely on the blouses (should have come with a warning: 'Unsuitable for anyone under 6ft and with a chest') but huge respect to you on the physics A level. It's never too late for you to read a bit of Metaphysical Poetry, but the delights of the periodic table will forever be shrouded in mystery to me!

Would that be huge plastic earrings that made it impossible to answer the phone, Amanda? I'm afraid I can list those in my personal 'crimes against good taste' file as well. Along with electric blue mascara.

(Feel now I've made that confession a line has been crossed from which there is no going back...)

Kate Hewitt said...

I think I'd give my 15 yr old self a hug and say, 'you know what? It's all going to be okay.' :) And then maybe a little whisper about how perms aren't really a good look for me.

Kate H.

Unknown said...

Kate-- perms are a mistake we all make once. We just have to learn that lesson and move on.

If only the photographs didn't hang around for such a long time though....

Michelle Styles said...

One thing I would say to my 15 year old self was that sneaking home all those Harlequin Presents was probably a Good Career Move.
Spending time in the library was absolute fun and reading, reading.
We will not talk about my fashion mistakes. Luckily I was still in an uniform...and it did not do anything for me.

Unknown said...

Oh yes, Michelle. Reading romance was seen as a wicked distraction from the real, important business of quadratic equations and latin verbs.

Ha ha ha!
(that was me having the last laugh, Miss Butler...)

Anonymous said...

What I'd tell my 15 year old self? I know exactly what that would be. To get rid of one particular friend otherwise I'd spend a whole bunch of years regretting it. Maybe even forever.

Anonymous said...

Simple: "Hey chick, take the chance. Ask him out. Tell off that bully. Stand up to the teacher. DON'T WEAR WHITE SOCKS WITH BLACK SHOES. Forget about the spandex pants. And when you meet that seemingly perfect guy at 19, RUN. LIKE. HELL."

Oh yeah, wear sunscreen and floss.