I usually give my best advice after I've had a couple glasses of what I like to call "courage juice" (a.k.a Sangria). One Saturday night I had some of my "courage juice" and decided to write down a list of things I wanted to say to all the girls that I've grown up with over the years. From elementary school to college, here's some tipsy advice from your dependable single, legal, wine-induced, college friend.
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert and all of my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. These are my personal opinions and if you don't like them let's just agree to disagree.
1. To the girl who only talks about her boyfriend.
Girl Talk 101 clearly states that one must have a wide variety of topics when talking to friends and the conversation must never sway back into the realm of "boyfriends" no more than once per hang-out. Okay so maybe I just made this rule up but you should definitely take it into consideration.
I've been on both ends of the spectrum; I've been the friend who always talks about her boyfriend and more recently I've been the friend stuck listening to her girlfriends go on about their perfect relationships.
News flash: IT"S ANNOYING. Talk about him for two minutes and move on.
He is not that interesting to the people that aren't in love with him. Just pretend you're a sports newscaster giving the highlights. Make it quick and snappy and move the conversation along. If not, your single friends will be bored and your friends in a relationship will just start talking about their "amazing" boyfriend as soon as you're done.
2. To the girl about to marry her high school sweetheart.
Let me just say if I married who I dated in high school we'd be in a bit of a pickle right now. I am not the same person who I was in high school. I'm barely the same person I was a year ago.
Please don't hold on to someone just because it's convenient or you've grown up with them. When you start dating someone that young and continue to date into adulthood, it's hard to find your true self.
I had a boyfriend from 15 to 18 and that is YOUNG. Don't get me wrong, I'm still young, but I'm also a lot more self-aware than I was as a teenager. Back then I thought I liked hunting, fishing, and country music. WHAT? If you know me now you'd probably think I was lying because this Sara enjoys jumping up and down at EDM concerts and wearing graphic tee's with Sublime and Nirvana written on them.
I pretended to be into whatever my boyfriend was into and that's completely stupid. If your high school boyfriend accepts you as you are then you're probably good to go, but if you're ignoring the voice in the back of your head telling you how you TRULY feel, it's probably time you take a deeper look at your relationship.
3. To the frequent "Facebooker's".
STOP POSTING YOUR WHOLE LIFE ONLINE. No one cares what Sally said to Susie. No one has ever cared. Seriously.
That's all I have to say about this one, it's pretty self-explanatory.
4. To the girl like me.
I am 21. I am super-duper single. I am independent (except for mom and dad, thank you for everything by the way). I am smart. I am strong. I am awesome. I am beautiful. I am a little chunky. I am a good friend. I am sometimes under-appreciated, overlooked, and ignored. But I know I'm worth far more than people give me credit.
If you relate to that then here's some advice, friend to friend:
Don't let guys walk all over you. Don't let your friends take you for granted. Don't hold grudges. Call people out when they're wrong. Call your parents. Stand your ground and never hold back. Stand up for yourself. Learn to be patient with people. Learn to forgive people even if they didn't ask for it or if they don't deserve it. Learn from your mistakes.
5. To every girl in the world.
Go on, be brilliant, do great things. Whether you're in college, still at home, starting a family, or becoming a social media starlet, as long as you're listening to your heart you'll be just fine.
