10 Pieces of Advice from My Mom to You! by Lindsey Turnbull & Pat G.
My mom’s birthday is coming up and instead of just wishing her a happy birthday, I put her to work. Just kidding! Kind of. I wanted to celebrate my mama and share some of the wisdom she’s gained. I told her I was giving her the mic and asked her:
What advice would you give to young women?
And she said:
- Give back or volunteer. You can make a real difference in someone’s life.
- When it comes to strangers, or people you don’t like, try to find one good thing about them, or one thing you have in common.
- Use your parents, relatives, elders, and adults you trust/respect as a resource. Chances are, if you are going through something, they have been through something similar. Learn about them and from them. Don’t be afraid to open up!
- Believe in yourself and your power!
- You are a gift and you are perfect the way you are. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.
- Stand up for what you believe in.
- Be true to yourself and love yourself.
- Be kind to yourself and others.
- Forgive people.
- Don’t worry so much about the little stuff, really. Ask yourself if it’s really going to matter in 6 months, a year, five years. And my personal favorite, a bonus for you:
- Shine bright and reach for the stars!
My favorite part about this is how similar some of our advice is. I guess I had absorbed it without even realizing! I swear, the “Ask yourself if it’ll matter” piece is almost WORD FOR WORD in the Girl’s How-To Guide to Authenticity, which my mom hasn’t read, and came out before I asked her this question. I guess this goes to show everyone out there that parent’s messages do sink in, even when we’re rolling our eyes 😉
Happy birthday Mom!
Related Reading
Advice to my Little Sister by Amina Ahmad
Myths from The Body Image Book for Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless by Charlotte Markey