I was a teenager once.

It's true.

I bounced back and forth from being terribly insecure to totally confident.

But if we're being honest here, just a few more times than not, I was towards the description on the left.

I was insecure about my skin, my thighs, my sense of humor, and sometimes, about my personality as a whole. But that's just silly. Basically 100% of the things I worried about then dissipated through the following years. And I'm pretty sure when I'm in my 30s, I'll say the same thing about my 20s. Funny how that works.

I kind of wish I could tell myself to appreciate my "large" thighs because they're only going to get bigger. Gosh, I hope I wouldn't be saying that to 20 year old self from my 30 year old self (STOP GROWING THIGHS)!

If I could have a chat with my teenage self, I might be tempted to tell myself that life gets a whole lot harder than I thought it would, even with all my silly worries. [I REALLY hope my 30 year old self wouldn't want to be saying that to my 22 year old self...but that one is probably true too.]

The things I worried about then were silly. What about REAL concerns teenage self. Like, I don't know, maybe saving to pay for college, becoming a mom, balancing  your time, what kind of insurance to pick, what 401K even means, and how to get the mystery stains of your shirts, eh!

I also might tell myself to take pictures in places other than at dance or football games, just to mix it up. Obviously I'm just sticking to the important topics.

But mostly, I think I would tell myself to just enjoy where I'm at while I'm there. There's good and bad to every stage of life, might as well enjoy the good before it's gone. And since I imagine that's what my 30-something year old self would be saying to me now if I could, I guess I'll just have to take this advice now. Before I'm 30 and my thighs are the size of whales.