If I was 16 again..

I see similar posts like these all the time so wanted to give my spin.

 

Back in 2006, I was your typical angsty teenager. I turned 16 in January and obviously had my GCSEs coming up. I was in a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere and my life consisted of school, their house, home. My best friend was dating his best friend so weekends pretty much meant we’d be over there or they would be over here – it was total overkill. We were together until the May of that year, splitting up just before our exams. I got my GCSE’s over and done with (definitely not having done my best) and spent the summer with my non school friends. At school, I had little self confidence and always felt rubbish about myself.

 

 

I almost felt as I was leading a double life. I have always stated how much I love all different genres of music but at school, I hung around with the emos and greebos and my non school friends were referred to as chavs because of the music they listened to – even if they weren’t. When I went back to school, it was almost like I was a different person. I’m not sure what happened but spending the summer with a completely different group of people seemed to do wonders for me. Whilst I certainly wasn’t as confident as I am now, I had definitely increased in confidence a little and I put that down to just spending time having fun, worrying about me.

 

My music change definitely changed. Whilst I loved a little bit of everything, I tended to lean more towards the summery R&B tunes when it came to the summer of 2006. I focused on spending some time with my best friends and preparing for Sixth Form.

 

If I was 16 again, would I change anything? I’m honestly not sure. Whilst my relationship at the beginning of the year was total overkill and definitely ruined our friendship, it lead to me spending more time with another group of friends after exams. Put bluntly, I speak to perhaps one person from my friends at school on a regular basis – the other group? Pretty much all of them! It definitely helped strengthen some existing friendships and I know these girls are always here for me.

 

I would definitely spend more time focusing on my exams. I had such little confidence in myself that I constantly sought validation from friends and relationships and didn’t spend as much time focusing on what was important.

 

I also made some amazing online friends back when it was “dangerous” to have online friends – I only really talk to one now, Lucy, even if that is only very occasionally – she is still absolutely fantastic! I wouldn’t change that at all, but I would love to go back in time and never start speaking to some people.  NOTE: Whilst writing this post, I decided to login to some old accounts and reconnected with another old friend, Kyra – so amazing when that happens!

 

I try to live without regrets and am a great believer in everything happens for a reason but of course, there are some things I would change. Spend more time studying, less worrying about what others think. Focus on the friendships that will matter 7 years later and get rid of the fake friends.

 

What would you change? I’ve included a playlist of my favourite songs from when I was 16…how many do you remember?