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| ScarlettDeWinter |
So I'm a little late to this party- the idea of writing a letter to one's sixteen year old self seemed to have taken of in the blogesphere a few months ago. But I thought at nineteen that perhaps I was too young to have any advice for my younger self. But I think perhaps I do.
Dear Scarlett,
So the BDSM community seems pretty exciting, right? Well. It is. But having an under age IC profile and pretending to be 18 isn't really the best way to enjoy it.
You've corresponded with people, and you've written the profile name "Will_and_Echo" on your bedroom desk, because they look fun and you'd like to know them. Well one day you will.
One day the people who you think sound so exciting and cool will be your friends. I know. Awesome, right?
So, I'd tell you to wait, and to stop being jail bait, only I know that you won't listen. So keep sitting on the bus to Tunbridge Wells working how many days it will be until you're eighteen, so that you can start having crazy kinky fun. I promise it'll go quicker than you'd have excpected.
SPOILER ALERT: You do eventually get into university. And it lots of ways it's great. Not as good as your gap year, but then you're only one term in when this letter is being written, so I can't tell you how it works out.
Having a gap year is the best accident you'll ever have. Serendipity, in fact. Promise. Even though it'll seem scary and at some points it'll suck.
Your relationship status at 19? Well, as Facebook would say, "It's complicated". Sadly I don't understand it well enough to explain it. Girlfriend, mistress, lover, pick whichever label you like and slap it on your forehead. Don't ask permission to do so.
Any advice? Well you're far to headstrong to listen to any of this. The weight that you hate about yourself is puppy fat, and you'll grow into yourself.
Public school boys are dicks- avoid them at all cost. One day the ones who say mean things about you will be asking you out.
You'll pass your GCSE's, but you'll rock your A-Levels. (Without much effort, you smug bitch). Not working hard is not something to be proud of.
Bootleg jeans aren't a good look. If tea dresses suit your figure then for god's sake wear them, don't just dress like everyone else for the sake of it.
Your girlfriends from school are awesome, and will always be there for you. One day they'll know about your kink. So will your family. It'll be bumpy, but it'll be okay eventually. Your mother will one day ask if you've ever been to a munch.
Be safe. Be healthy, be happy. Believe in yourself. Do every other cliché that I can't help wanting to tell you. Lots of things go wrong between 2007 and 2010, but you'll suck it up and you'll survive. Despite that ditzy exterior, you're actually pretty tough.
Love,
The older (and slightly wiser) me.
| 6 Dec 10, 12:59 AM go_dutch UK(AL), 4 yrs   |
hey, i resent the Public School jibe, I'm not a dick!
great read and a good head you have on that shoulders too, see you soon xx Edinburgh Fringe Munch 15/08/10 | |
| 6 Dec 10, 4:53 PM res4sub 7 yrs |
This is brilliant, really wish that my 16 year old self could have listened to what I know now, she'd be a lot stronger for it  Thanks for sharing this, has really got me thinking x 'Would it be a bad thing if I just strangled you with these right now?' | |
| 6 Dec 10, 6:06 PM syndeetoo UK(WC), 6 yrs |
I work somewhere where we received a thank you card from a 16 year old boy recently who had pulled through his third suicide attempt. Having done three myself and decided at 17 , my last try, that enough was enough on the attempt to get off the planet stakes I really felt for the lad. If only we could all negotiate our lives with less angst. It is so hard to believe when you are young that things can ever get better. I wouldn't bother writing to my 16 year old self as she would have thrown it back in my face. | |
| 6 Dec 10, 6:19 PM jen001 UK(HD), 8 yrs |
*this* bit j xx
i dont look like *that* in person? shit | |
| 7 Dec 10, 2:03 AM Will_and_Echo UK(SW), 5 yrs   |
<3 for you (though this story makes me blush every time you tell it). People as epically awesome as you are always welcome in our world Love & hugs, Exx "You'll find the shame is like the pain, you only feel it once." |
