What advice would you give to your teenage self?

How complicated life seems during teenage years. It is the time when we start to understand the importance of society’s acceptance.

We leave the phase of enjoying every day with a carefree attitude to the “What will people think” attitude.

We fight every day with ourselves to be the perfect version we can be—just so we could be liked. We wanted people to be jealous of the perfection in our lives.

I did things that I hated just because they were what most people did. I tried so hard to fall into the required specifications to be part of the “cool” gang. And when I could not make it, I denigrated myself: “You are not trying hard enough.” “You are a loser.” “You don’t deserve to exist.” These thoughts occupied a permanent space in my head.

But now, in retrospect, it all feels so small. All the issues I faced—if I had the maturity I have today—I think I would have gotten through them unscathed.

The one thing I want to tell my old self is: “It doesn’t matter.” The people you think matter leave your life, the standards you had to meet change, and the measure of success is different. All I had to do was get through it forging my own path, because no matter what, to others you are doing everything wrong.

Just brush them off your shoulder, hold your head high, and keep on walking.