Dear High School Lindsay

Today we're diverting from regularly scheduled programming to link up with Liz's Be Fearless Project and Kelly's TBT. So, I'm in charge of planning my high school ten year reunion- weird. All this planning and getting in touch with people I haven't talked to in a decade has really had me reflecting on how things were in high school, and while I definitely have no regrets there are things I wish I could let little High School Lindsay know so in honor of TBT and The Fearless Project, here is my letter to my High School Self.

Dear High School Lindsay,

Chill out, man! I know you don't believe this, but all that stuff you spend every waking hour stressed out about will mean nothing. In fact, I'm sitting here 10 years later trying my hardest to remember what it was that kept me up at night and for the life of me can't remember WHAT any of it was, let alone the outcomes. Plus you're going to get to college and run out of f*cks to give, get yourself into all sorts of unbelievable situations (can't even tell you what these are because you'll go into cardiac arrest, plus social media confessions like that lose people their jobs), yet life will still go on and you'll be incredibly happy.

Also, stop being so afraid of failing that it prevents you from doing things. Fortunately your parents are going to push and push until you're able to do scary things by yourself, but for the love of all things holy try to understand that FAILURE IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.

Still got those awkward dance moves 14 years later.

BoyzIIMen, N Sync and BSB will all quit making music- life will go on, you will find other music you like and other artists who "really get you". Oddly enough, Britney, X-tina, and Pink will all still be around and super relevant. And on that note- Pink will be the only one of those lady-stars who doesn't get arrested and lives a fairly traditional family life. This is all very confusing now that I think about it.

Give up on that crush on Lance too, girl. It's going nowhere for more reasons than you think.

Another thing you're not going to believe as you're applying for college far away from all your friends because Dad is pushing you to go outside a 250 mile radius from home (thanks Dad!) is that you will survive without your best friends, and in fact you'll still talk to them almost every day (the amount of free time you'll have in college to do this is mind-blowing to me now) and you and Erin will travel thousands of miles (half of these in the wrong direction) to visit old friends. You'll make friends in college that you can't imagine living without, then you'll move on to other new places and build similar friendships with people and cry every time you move to a new place because you can't imagine life without them either. You are never going to make lots of money but you are going to be so very very wealthy with love and friendships and families that change your life and shape who you are.

Really no caption needed.

This hormonal roller coaster ride of insanity you're on right now is pretty nuts, but stop being such an a-hole to Mom and Dad. They are in fact NOT trying to ruin your life, and they are doing a really really good job. You'll realize this when you get to college with about 15,000 people whose parents DIDN'T do a good job. And you'll also be glad Mom made you work 2 jobs your senior year summer while everyone else was partying save that money up before you left for college, even though you'll find a way to blow most of it in the first few months, as well as sign up for a credit card with sky-high interest that you don't even realize you have to pay because you're an idiot, and you're going to put your Bahamas spring break trip on it and work your ass off the first few years out of college to pay it off and restore your credit. But at least you got a free t-shirt out of it. You freaking idiot.

thankfully you'll learn more about how to manage your hair and quit the tanning bed.

Brad and Jen are going to divorce, and it's going to make you question true love. Don't worry, Beyonce and Jay-Z will fill that void for you in a way that Brad and Jen never could have.

Stop hating your weight so much. You're going to spend the next decade-ish trying to get that body back because teenage metabolism and daily team sports practices with coaches who tell you what to eat don't exist in the real world (on your budget at least).

Team sports, man. 

On the note of body-hate, don't worry about that booty. Kim K, Nicki Minaj, and a whole slew of celebs are going to make big butts cool, and you're really not going to believe this one, but people are going to pay big bucks (and even DIE) to get a big butt. You will thank God for unanswered prayers (please just let me have a flatter butt like all the models, and also that one about marrying your high school boyfriend), and believe it or not, love that butt you just couldn't get rid of.


You're going to learn that you can't control everything so you might as well stop trying so hard now. About 80% of things are not going to go the way you planned despite trying control it all, and there's going to be heartache, loss, love- so much love- challenges, experiences, highs, lows, relationships, and a lot of laughing at yourself. Which is all going to lead to this incredibly happy place by the time your late 20's get here. Every single step and failure and accomplishment and feeling and experience is going to be 100% worth it. Especially the ones that scared you the most to do. So go scare the sh*t out of yourself and do some crazy things.


Love (I think you sign all your notes "LYLAS" actually),
28-year old Lindsay

PS: Mom is right about everything. Literally every last thing. That's probably all this letter needed to say actually. It's infuriating. There's nothing you should do about this because you need to learn things for yourself, but just know- every. last. thing.

Even at age 28 in a city he's never lived in, people are going to still recognize you as Cory's sister. It's fine now though

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