22 Comments
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Liz Thompson

Iā€™d tell my younger self to always be true to herself. There is no need for anyone to rescue her and that post-menopause will be even better than she could have imagined. All the executive functioning issues will either disappear or make her stronger when those hormones go away!

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

Don't be scared, it all works out.

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

This got me seriously teary. I've only *just* started giving my teenage self a break for not being stronger/smarter/more circumspect - she was doing the best she could with what she had!

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

Iā€™d tell my teenage self that her thinking wasnā€™t crazy or weird: yes, there will be a life beyond high school, these people, and this town. The world is bigger and this is just a moment in time.

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

This is one of those takes that frustrates me to no end. I have always found it so hard to understand how dismissive people are of teenagers. Teenage me was absolutely 100% right to feel everything she felt. I wouldnā€™t tell her to relax; Iā€™d tell her to be bigger, louder, and break more ā€œrules.ā€ Graduate early. Go train hopping. Trust herself. Always. She was brilliant and dynamic and was able to see so far ahead. I wouldnā€™t lie and tell her it gets better. But at the very least, itā€™s still interesting enough to want to know what happens next.

Expand full comment
author

I would advise my teenage self to go be less afraid, do more, more, more. (While the knees don't hurt!) Don't be so afraid of your creativity and weird-o-ness. It's a gift. Wait I might tell midlife me that too....

Expand full comment

I'd tell my teenaged self: you have something called "trauma", and long before you learn to deal with it, your body is going to start shutting you down. What people see as your talent, boldness, & brilliance will give way to chronic illness. By the way, you really do have bipolar disorder as well, and it is nowhere near as romantic as some biography of a famous dead poet might have one think. But hey, at least you're having a really, really good time! Enjoy those friends & travels & all that education!

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

Stop comparing yourself to other people and start trusting your instincts. Also, your weight is fine.

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

Hell yeah to "ending toxic patterns that haunt her family". I'm connecting with a great aunt I never really got to know and we are doing our part to heal generations of trauma by hanging alllll the dirty laundry out to air

Expand full comment
Mar 2, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson

I wouldn't tell her anything. She probably wouldn't listen. And even if she did, she wouldn't understand. I'd just give her a hug.

Expand full comment
Mar 3, 2023Liked by Liz Thompson

Have more fun. Youā€™ll get where you wanted to.

Expand full comment