advice for earlier you (and me!)

i want some feedback.  so i created a survey.

please, friend - take it. 

just click here.

i've been thinking recently about advice i would give to my earlier self.  my 10 year old self, my 15 year old self, my 18 and 22 year old self.  i also think about the advice that, if i had a megaphone to my generation, i'd provide.

i remember that i used to be devastated because i had yet to get my period.  i was 15, and i was convinced that either (a) my ovaries were broken or (b) something was wrong with me and i would never, ever turn into a full-fledged woman.

it happened.  but i wish i had known, earlier on, to treasure the time that comes before the monthly bleed-out.  (yum).

i remember, around the same time, when i had not yet kissed a boy.  i was terrified that i wouldn't know what to do, so i read article after article, quizzed my friends, trying to learn in vain from others. 

it happened.  and it was gross.  i remember my first thought: "i can't believe this is a national passtime." (i hadn't discovered sex, yet.)

i would tell myself, "don't worry, it gets better.  but congrats anyway."

i remember my mother's face when, in college, i told her that i hadn't changed my sheets all semester.  i remember the stench of unwashed dishes stacked on top of our dorm room microwave. 

i'd hand that self some lysol and a roll of papertowels and tell her to get to work!

i'd tell my post-college self to avoid dating within your industry (it's just bad news).  that people gossip in the working world just like they do in high school.

and i would tell my 25 year old self not to tell her boyfriend so early on that she wants to marry him...woops!

what do you remember, and what advice would you have for your earlier self?  share with me - take the survey!

love, aQ