Dear 14 Year Old Dot

Dear Dot,

Ah, so we've reached 'moody/awkward' teenager now have we? Ok good. 

Although most, if not every, teenager goes through this stage at some point, I do request that you tone down your confrontational nature and extreme emotions to a minimum because heck it's embarrassing now! I know, I know that at the time you were certain it was the right thing to be doing, but I can tell you now that I'm on the other side, you couldn't be more wrong. Make sure your thoughts are gathered and you are calm and collected before jumping to conclusions. It'll save you much hassle.

I think, if I've done my maths right, this is where you discover your true pals- the ones you stick with until the end of school- so at least that's one positive. They're ace and you'll have a lot of fun with them. I don't think they'll read this, but hi guys if you do!

Anyway, enough with the positives. Let's crack on the crap you do wrong. Compared to other years, you're not actually too bad. You should have just truly realized how much you love the Scott Mills show. You've always listened but never appreciated it as much as do now. Which is great- keep going with it. It'll serve you well. 

Anyway,that's fairly irrelevant. You need to focus on yourself for a while. Look after yourself. Both physically and mentally. I know you think you're not as pretty, not as clever, not as talented as everyone else, but chances are (unless they're very lucky), they have the exact same insecurities as you do and are lacking just as much self confidence as you are. There are other things more important in the world than if you have perfect skin, if your brows are even, if you have a bit of excess fat because you like cake! 

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" BULLSHIT. Try treacle tart with vanilla ice cream. Try chocolate cookies which have just been taken out the oven. Try warm gingerbread on a cold winter evening. Yes, it's only good to have them in small amounts. And yes, you do with you could be one, maybe 2 sizes smaller. But come on- you're not overweight! You're a size 10. That's completely normal for someone who likes a cake every now and then. Stop stressing, you look fine.

Stop giving yourself such a hard time, because that crap you tell yourself will stick with you and affect you later on which really sucks. Just pretend you're confident and it'l eventually come naturally... hopefully

Head up, shoulders back and plaster a smile onto that miserable face of yours.

Love from 
Dot x