What I Wish I Knew Last Year

Izzy Kate
Jun 28
4 min read

Last year was quite a wild year. Even though it is currently June, I want to take my experiences from last year and express some of the things I wish I knew. There are so many things I wish I could tell myself from 2024, but here are the main things I wish I could say.

Drama Mama: Navigating Friendships and Emotions

I know I talk a lot about drama on here, but it's for a reason. Especially when you are a teenager, your emotions are at their peak, so drama can put your emotions over the edge. Sometimes I have to remind myself that drama doesn't last forever. It may feel like the biggest issue in the world right now, but in a week or so there will be something else. Think about how many times you've discussed who was dating who or why certain people don't like each other. There is always something new, so don't let drama have a big enough impact on you to affect who you are.

Drama isn't always permanent, and neither are all the friendships you will make. That's an okay thing. If I were still in contact with all the people I met in pre-school, elementary, and middle school, my life would be a lot different. "Less is more." I struggle sometimes with the feeling of not having a lot of friends. When it comes to friendships, I've learned that most of the friends I have made over the years who have drifted away were because of the 2-way rule. The 2-way rule is a theory that to keep a good friendship going, both people must communicate and interact with one another. It's a 2-way street! So, if you constantly are the one texting first or are the only one trying to plan times to hang out, maybe take a break from that to see if they value the relationship. If they can't take a couple of seconds out of their day to check up on you, then are they a true friend? You wanna hang out with people who bring out the best version of you, and if they aren't doing that for you, it might not be a bad idea to make some new friends.

Rough Days: Emotional Impacts, Sleep Struggles, and My Coping Strategies

Some days can be so rough! It's like, no matter what I do my hair doesn't look good, or my skin has a ton of acne, or I'm just not feeling that confident. Days that start bad for me always end up bad. In all honesty, moments like these bring my mental health down. By noon I have my sad playlist on full blast (thank you Billie Eilish). Here is some advice I got from a friend that I will now give to you!

“Have a short memory.”

By having a short memory, you don't focus so much on the little things that bring you down. Tell me why breaking a nail can ruin my whole day. That's exactly why having a short memory of the negative things isn't a bad idea.

Sometimes I feel like my emotions can be based on how others feel. For example, if my sister is having a really bad day, I feed off her energy. It's not easy to have a super positive day if she isn't having one. Although it can be hard to not base your emotions on others, I would tell myself last year to stop doing that so much. I swear, no matter how good my day was, knowing that someone else's wasn't good, caused me to feel down.

Part of the reason I felt so down sometimes was also because of my sleep schedule. Even if I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up for school at 5:30 am like I usually do, I'd still feel so exhausted. I started working naps into my day, but even then I felt like my whole day was taken up by my sleeping. I haven't quite found a solution to my sleep schedule yet, but I am working on it. Some people may say "Just go to sleep earlier," but I don't think that's necessarily the solution. You try going to bed at 7 pm when you still have energy. Most of the time I struggled with actually falling asleep. I would be laying in bed trying to get some shut-eye, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fall asleep. A few times I have been up until 2 am just laying in my bed hoping that sleep would come to me soon.

Cherish Life: Authenticity is Key

Cherish life! There is no other way to say it. Take the time to try a new hairstyle, new clothing, or new makeup look. Feel free to experiment with what makes you authentically you! I especially love trying new hairstyles for volleyball practice and games. That's how I found out I have a love for hair bows. Now I own around 30...but that's beside the point. Don't take this as an encouragement to change who you are to interest others though. Do things that feel right to you, not for others' enjoyment. If I changed who I was to impress everyone I've ever met, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I'd also like to add that just because things are trendy doesn't make them cool. Not only does it lack authenticity, but it just comes across as fan behavior. Let me tell you this, fanning over some random girl at your school who has friends simply because she vapes and gets in fights isn't something anyone should be fanning over.

On another note, a reminder to anyone who is under 18 years old, you are still a kid. I feel like so many people take that as a bad thing. Like, I get you want to be taken seriously and I agree with that, but you're still a kid! Let yourself be creative and imaginative. If you wanna play with stuffed animals, do it! If you wanna color outside the lines, do it! If you wanna play in a ball pit, do it! No one is stopping you, only your conscience. I especially need to stop caring so much about what others think about me and start caring more about what I think about myself. If I like the person I have become, that's all that matters.

The More Ya Know...

Recently Maddie and I have been going live most nights on TikTok, which has been fun! Also, shoutout to Maddie for buying me Spotify Premium! She's a real one, she's so caring and selfless, so thank you. Overall, summer has been pretty chill so far. We are going on vacation in late July, so I am very excited and in immense anticipation! Here are some of my favorite photos from this month so far!