Letter to myself at 16

There is a meme going round the bloggesphere at the moment which I have found fascinating. The "letter to myself at 16" has given me a real insight into some people who I thought I knew quite well.

You can read letters by Iain, Chris, Donal and Shane.

Self indulgent as it is here is my letter:

Hi Jim,

It's James here, I don't remember when Jim became James but it does. There is no premeditation to this shift but by the time you hit 40 you'll find it hard to imagine you were ever called Jim. It's only the the guys you knew at school that still do. Oh yes, you're friends with a few people you currently know but not as many as you expect.

This letter may freak you out a bit but don't worry too much about the physics behind how this letter from December 2009 reaches you in 1985, just go with it. I want to pass on a couple of pieces of advice which I hope will make life a little easier for you.

Firstly, you did well in you “O” Levels without having to try too hard, “A” Levels need more focus and depth of knowledge. You are going to have to change your style of learning if you want to get a decent set of “A” Levels, and good exam results give you more options in life. You're bright, popular and lucky and that these traits have helped you achieve everything that you've wanted in life so far. Trust me, it won't be enough for much longer, later in life you'll have to compete with lucky, popular and bright people who also work like Trojans.

You're about to go through a couple of years of bad skin, really bad skin. This will knock your confidence at the very point that the school decides to introduce girls for the first time in it's history. After almost 400 years of teaching boys, they drop this bombshell (those bombshells) on you just as you should be focused on your school work.

Bad skin and a 10-1 boy-girl ratio doesn't make getting a girlfriend easy, don't worry too much about it. You will spend a lot of time with some wonderful girls and young women over the next few years, and when you get to university you'll realise that ending up in bed with some of them isn't the impossible task it seems at the moment. Have fun and don't hurt anyone.

When you meet the perfect woman, you'll know instantly. Or rather you'll instantly know that she is perfect physically, the emotional bond will take a month or two to develop. And just to keep it nice and shallow, she'll still turn heads of guys in their 20s when you are in your 40s, cool eh!

Last piece of advice, take risks. Physical, emotional and financial. Lots of people tell you that you take too many risks, they're wrong. For example, you'll decide to move to Scotland one lunchtime and be on the Aberdeen train by 4.30 that afternoon, you'll live in the Cairngorms for a year and love every minute it. You'll join the army after almost as much thought and love that too!

To be fair not all of your risks will pay off and you'll learn from those that don't. You'll learn to see opportunities that other people miss and grasp them. Most importantly if you sit back and let them pass you by you'll hate yourself.

By 40 you won't be as rich or cool or as famous as you currently hope, but you will be very happy with your life and there will be a host of opportunities still to grasp.

All the best,

James

P.S. Stop trying to cut your own hair, it looks shocking from the back.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you find this interesting have a go yourself. It's fun.