Letter 5: Don't judge a book by it's cover

Dear 16 Year Old Self,

I've always had an issue with judging people before I actually knew them, especially as I got older. My main problems were with the young teenagers; the 13 to 15 year olds. I just used to get so annoyed with them. With their mediocre problems, short skirts and heavily made up faces. When I was around girls that age, I would often roll my eyes in annoyance and try to get out of the room as soon as possible.

It wasn't until last year that I had my eyes opened. We were doing this thing in drama at Theatre school, where each girl had to go up in front of the class and speak about who they are. When we got the task we all prepared these typical "Who Am I" speeches. But one by one, as the girls went up, they realised in front of a group of people talking about who you are, you were extremely vulnerable.  Many of the girls, including myself, cried while we were in front of the class, saying things, speaking about things we hadn't really even considered were bothering us until that moment we were put on the spot.

It was interesting, because the age gap in the class was pretty vast. The youngest was 12 and the oldest was 18 (Me and a few of the other girls at the time). We were all at different stages in life, and everyone's story broke my heart. I sat there listening to these 14 year old girls who I had judged before, but when they sat there telling us their story I just wanted to get up and hug them and tell them it was going to be okay. That's when I realised that when I was that age, I really felt like everything was the end of the world... and my problems weren't even as big as theirs are.

My point is, everyone is dealing with their own "end of the world", the most secure person you know may be the one who is dying inside. It's easy to judge someone by just looking at them, it takes a big person to actually ask and find out why a certain person is the way they are. Just because someone is younger than you doesn't mean their problems are smaller than yours.

Your life begins where your comfort zone ends. If there's someone you don't really like that much, ask yourself why? Your reasons will probably be a little superficial. Then think about how you'd feel if someone disliked you before they even knew you. It's pretty crappy isn't it? If you're too busy judging someone, you have no time to love them.
So what are you ganna do? Judge or love?

Yours
19 Year Old Nadine