14 year old me.....

Dear 14 year old me,

Tonight I visited where you would be going to school provided you still lived where you did when you were in middle school. You had thousand of memories there and made lots of friends. You had good times and bad times, but it made you who you are today. Anyway, there is a reason for my madness.

I went to a talent show tonight and I wish I could tell each person the following, that's why I'm writing you right now. With each performance that was done, I had commentary. Of course that stems from a few years in Governors School where everything was criticized with a fine tooth comb. But that's later.

Today I want you to know the following.....

1) Screw everyone who laughs at you. They have no idea what is going on in that mind of yours. It takes balls to get up in front of people and do anything. To speak to new people. If you make a mistake, take it with a smile and laugh about it. In 10 years you won't remember them. You won't remember the ones that told you, "you will fail". You will remember those who tell you that you can.

2) Attack everything with confidence. When taking the stage, or board of directors, or family, anything. Approach it with confidence. Take on the task knowing that you are going into succeed. Carry yourself with grace and confidence. That will get you lots of brownie points.

3) Open yourself up. Not just vocally, but with people. Everyone isn't going to agree with you. Everyone isn't going to be what you think. But not all people are bad and if you aren't open to getting to know them, you might miss out.

4) Never give up. No matter what happens or how bad you screw up. DON'T GIVE UP! KEEP GOING. There is something to be learned from this experience and you will do better next time. Don't think that just because you fail or mess up this one time that you are going to fail at all things. ALL THE TIME.

5) YOU ARE AWESOME! No matter what you feel. No matter what is said to you. No matter what you think right this second. You are Awesome. Never forget that.

You know, I thought that this was something I wanted to tell my 14 year old self, but really I wanted to tell it to my 28 year old self. Hopefully you gained something out of it too.