Advice to a 12 year old me

Over at Fark.com there's an interesting thread asking for answers to the following:

If you could go back in time and tell your 12-year old self one thing, what would it be?

I was twelve in 1980. It seems so long ago ... maybe because it is. I guess I'd go with:

You're not going to be able to control everything, especially other people. So don't try, it will only make you hurt. Badly.

Sometime detachment is the best policy. But not always. Trust me.

More like this

This time around, we're talking to Mark Chu-Carroll of Good Math/Bad Math. What's your name? Mark Chu-Carroll What do you do when you're not blogging? Chase my children around.... (I've got a 6 year-old girl and a 3 1/2 year-old boy.) Cook. Chase my children some more. Make bizarrely elaborate…
Some of you may know that a publisher contacted me last year about turning a piece of short fiction I'd written from an adult perspective into a young adult novel. There are several reasons I wanted to do this - the first is that in many ways, the young adult fiction market is much more vital than…
Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years'…
When Dr. Isis first joined ScienceBlogs, she attracted attention with her bombastic commentary, gravity-defying shoes and a persona that steamrolled the stereotypical image of the safety goggle-wearing white male scientist. Those who oppose her are immediately forced to face their preconceived…

At 12, I had just suffered the loss of my father. My advice would be to find someone to help me through that loss and not to waste ten years grieving in depression and doing drugs. I'd also counsel me to work hard at maths.

From the previously mentioned thread:

>If you think choosing between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford is unpleasant, just wait.

Made me laugh.

By John Lynch (not verified) on 21 Oct 2006 #permalink

Since there's a 24-hr lag on registering for Fark ...

I'd say "you're GAY; Jesus won't help; and not telling your parents until you turned 21 was absolutely the right decision".

And then maybe "study physics. You'll like it better".