A letter to my 18-year-old self

Recently Chynna wrote a letter to her eighteen-year-old self, and it reminded me that six years ago that I wrote a few things about what I’d tell my sixteen-year-old self. I hadn’t done eighteen, and I feel like now is the time I should be doing something like 21… but now, six years down the track from my last note, I think it’s time to write to myself seven years ago.

Empty chairs by an empty desk

Dear Georgie,

You probably still hate the name “Georgie”. But I’ll tell you, you will learn to strangely turn on your birth name and realise that “Georgie” is the real you. You won’t know how to explain it – you won’t know until later. You’ll just find, over time, that your birth name will no longer reflect you.

You’re in a relationship. One of the longest you’ll ever have. It’ll be rewarding, but it’ll also be tough, and I know you’ll have your doubts. I can’t tell you what to do, but don’t get too comfortable. Like your previous relationship, don’t get too attached. Don’t expect him to pine after you the way you think a fairytale should be. Being a hopeless romantic won’t have much of a place in this relationship. It won’t be a fairytale. It will end one day, a long way away, but the timing won’t be right, and I only wish you could make it right. But I want you to enjoy it while you’re in it. You’ll know when it’s time to let go, and you’ll have your doubts. But when you have your doubts, act on them… don’t just stay there.

Be strong. Because university is a shitty hellhole that you’re going to think you’re good at, but newsflash: you’re not. You’ll excel in some subjects and do terribly at some others. So make sure you actually try, even though skipping lectures and pretending to be sick is appealing. There’s going to be excruciating amounts of group work that you’ll hate.

Oh yeah, and if I told you that you were never going to drink a drop of alcohol until you’re around 22 (legal age is 18 for goodness’ sake, you’re not in America!), you’d probably not believe me. Stop trying to be so goody-two-shoes… because I hate to break it to you, you’re going to be a terrible rebel and break a shit ton of rules. Just have a damn drink and stop trying to brag that you’ve never had alcohol. You’re kinda missing out. Just start early and control yourself, you will be fine.

You’re going to go to concerts. I know you have been dying to go to one for ages. You’re going to go to so many. So. Many. And you’re going to spend a lot of money but you’re not going to regret it. But stop buying so much fucking jewellery. I’m telling you that you’re going to be wasting your money on it until you’re 25, so bloody do something about it now.

Your fashion sense sucks! I know you’re trying to still be the punk that you were, but that Sheldon Cooper-like long-sleeved-shirt-plus-geek-t-shirt look is not doing you any favours. That purple dress with the boots though? Kick ass. And those trendy tights with the wicked patterns? Keep wearing them and grabbing those compliments because they are going to stop being trendy quick.

And when you stomach tells you to eat McDonald’s every day for breakfast, don’t. Just don’t. Sure, you have abs, that you can’t even see! You could be so much fitter than that.

I’m not joking when I say you should probably try being vegetarian. You said you were sick of chicken after all, right?

I’m probably not being helpful, but you probably try too hard. All this effort you’re putting into your blog with returning comments and reviews is killing you. You need to relax. I know you love being called superwoman but please, woman, give yourself a break. After all, you’re only eighteen, and seeing you fall asleep on campus is killing me.

Have a cup of tea. You’ll be thankful. Read a little more, sleep a little better, eat a little better.

xx G

Comments on this post

I love this! It helps reveal a bit what your life was like back then, but because it’s written in the future, it sounds more mature…I also like how it contrasts to what you sorta were like before and who you are now.

I’m tempted to do one of these, but I’m not sure where to start. I also don’t remember enough from my ages. Ugh, fucking PTSD. 😒😓

I love this idea so much! I might have to give it a go myself, if that’s okay. :)

So much happened when I was 18. I moved to Liverpool, discovered I had anxiety issues and started pursing my legal case. There’s a lot I would tell my 18 year old self!

Haha I remember you doing website reviews and replying/returning comments super quick. I was amazed at how you did it all!

Haha yes, do it!

I don’t even remember how I did it, but something tells me that I got very little sleep and didn’t study as much as I should have. :P

Such a cute idea.
I might write the future/past me a letter in a blog post myself. I just need to pick which “me” I want to write to.

Great post!!

I love the advice you’re giving to your younger self. It’s not a “this is a list of what you should do” but a “use your brain and do some smart thinking”. We all do stuff that seems cool at the time, not limited to fashion senses. At the same time, it kind of contributed to who you are today. You know your limits and potentially better than before (eg. returning comments and doing all of the reviews in the world). Even then, you turned out to be a really fine lady. Keep it up!

i’ve never known that you dislike the name georgie! i think it’s a beautiful name, almost british and quite an elegant one. i don’t know, i like the name. i’ve always dislike my name too though. i wish my name is alice or elise, i don’t understand what’s with the A alphabet at the end lol

i was all “awww” about the letter until this part: but stop buying so much fucking jewellery. i lost it at that part hahaha i had to laugh :P
this letter is kind of adorable. i don’t know why but it just is. i don’t generally think of the things or letters to write to my younger or older self because, well, i just don’t. but i like reading others and what they have come up with. this was enjoyable to read hehe

Oh, I didn’t like the name back then – I hated it a lot. I got teased because immature classmates would sing that Georgy Girl song or think it was a boy’s name because of the nursery rhyme Georgie Porgie. But I love the name now and my full name is the one I hate. 😆 (I was even thinking of changing my real name to Georgie, it’s only a few letters different but bah!!)

I had a friend named Alyce, pronounced “uh-lease” – like probably how you’d expect Elise to be pronounced (I also have a friend named Elise). So yes… very confusing hahaha.

What a great and also interesting idea! I’ve done the opposite for camp (writing to my future self) but it sounds a lot more personal writing to your past self. It’s interesting to think about how we would write to our past selves and realize how much has changed or how much we personally have changed over the years.

I really enjoyed reading your letter!

I love reading these sorts of posts. I wrote one to my 13 year old self a few years ago, and I really enjoyed doing it. I might have to follow you and Chynna at some point and write one (if that’s okay), though I’d probably want to tell myself things I’d be far too embarrassed to put online.

It’s always weird to think about how different things were only a few years ago. Like you, I was in a relationship with someone else when I was 18, which seems so strange now. At 18 I also thought it would last forever, and I doubt I would have believed that we’d break up, I’d get with someone else and everything would change. It’s so strange to think about.

I love the bit about jewellery! At 500/600 pieces you definitely had a problem. I think I did the same with DVDs though, and I never even watched half of them. Why were we so bad at controlling our spending?!

Love this post! Can’t believe I was reading your blog back when you were 18! That’s so long!

I think both Chynna and I have inspired people to write letters to their younger selves, so go ahead! :D

I think I still have a spending problem, of sorts. I have things more under control than before, but comparing to when I first started working, it’s like I still don’t know how to control myself. 😆

It’s crazy, I keep forgetting I was reading your blog back then too. And we’re both still around, so that’s super! I’m more amazed that you’ve kept the same domain name though. ;p