I wish I could teach you the power of Sunscreen

I wish I could teach you wearing sunscreen is one of the healthiest decisions you can make for your body, your face in particular. Don't make the same mistakes many others have made in their quest for a golden tan because no matter how important it may seem in your teens and 20s, when you are 30 it will already have begun to take its toll in the form of wrinkles and spots.

If you have ever read a beauty magazine, walked into a drugstore with its array of beauty products or just live on the planet, you have heard by now that wearing sunscreen is vital to protecting against skin cancer, ugly brown spots and WRINKLES! Why, oh why, did someone not drill this into my head sooner and force feed my face sunscreen?? Now, after scouring magazine after magazine and web pages galore for the antidote to a wrinkle free face, it is sinking in that sunscreen is the key, not trying every wrinkle and anti aging cream available. But now it is too late, I cannot turn back the hands of time but I can become a sunscreen devotee. While I know how sunscreen works, a tiny part of me hopes by putting sunscreen on, my face will get the message that I am no longer in a quest to damage it and immediately repair its increasingly wrinkled appearance. I would like to think of sunscreen as a stain remover, works instantly on contact and even better after being massaged around a little bit. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works. What is done, is done and only time and money can fix those deep ruts with retinoids, antioxidants, microdermabrasion, fillers, etc.

While sunscreen may not have magical powers, it is certainly a miracle cream. Diligence with sunscreen will stop the break down of collagen by the sun and prevent new members of the wrinkle family from showing up on your face. Take the time now or you will be looking at yourself in the mirror 10 years down the road wondering how a girl who used to be mistaken for years younger than her age could morph into someone who cannot help but be allured by all the Botox and Restylane ads screaming youth.

If there is one thing I could teach you it would be this: No matter how "gross" your face may feel with a load of sunscreen piled on, how unnecessary the extra step in an already never ending line of other facial steps may seem or how luxurious a tanned face may look (there is self-tanner to remedy that!), do not wait until your 30s to take action because I can guarantee while you are tossing money at your dermatologist because of your past tanning addictions, your sun-conscious friend will be wrinkle-free and sporting a brand new pair of Louboutins and a gorgeous lambskin Chanel bag with all the money she saved from not needing all the youth creams, anti-aging concoctions and unnecessary injections you now depend on so dearly.

It doesn't matter how cool you are in High School

I wish I could teach you it doesn't matter how cool you are in high school. Sure, the cool kids' lives may have seemed more exciting but it was only because all the drama flying back and forth about who's dating who, who did what over the weekend and why Sarah wore the same exact top as you? Fashion suicide no doubt! What does matter is having close friends who you can actually be real around. People who don't care what you wear, how much money your parents have or what car you drive. What does matter is your ability to laugh at a funny situation, your ability to give all you have to something not because it is the cool thing but because you enjoy it, your ability to enjoy every moment you have being a "kid" because essentially, you still are and once you grow up, it is over. "Grown-ups" still have fun and can be who they want to be but you lose the carefree attitude because your biggest concern is no longer Janet telling an embarrassing story about you but will you be able to provide a loving home for your family? Did you learn enough in school to teach your kids well?

Look 5 years ahead, past high school to your college graduation. Is it really so important your crush didn't like you back? Did being flat chested really affect your life that much? Were all of your small worries and insecurities worth obsessing over?

I wish I could teach you high school is only a phase. You get to choose how you go through it. You have the power to make it great or make it miserable. I wish I could teach you to make your high school experience worth while. To take from it and learn from it. To study hard and actually understand geometry instead of passing it off as something you will never use. I wish I could teach you one of the most important take aways from high school will be your education. It will be your building block for the rest of your life. It will decide if you get into a so so college or a great college and from there what kind of job you will have. Your high school education will set you up for your future, it will decide where you go in life. It can either ruin you and leave you defeated and starting off college on the wrong foot or it can empower you.

I wish I could teach you at an early age, it doesn't matter if anyone finds fault with you, what matters is how you value yourself, your time and your education because when you leave all of high school behind, the drama, the insecurities, the tests and notes, you will only be left with yourself and the future.

I wish I could teach you...

I wish I could teach you so many things. I wish I could teach you all the right from wrongs in the world, how to avoid mistakes and how to make your own happiness. I wish I could teach you why people act the way they do, why the world is not always a safe place and why no matter what, you should rely on your friends and family. I wish I could teach you no matter what your age, your location or your circumstance, you always have the ability to move forward in life. I wish I could teach you money will not make you feel wanted and love should always be free. I wish I could teach you that the four walls that surround you are not your prison, there's a door, use it to make your own way. I wish I could teach you so much but it doesn't matter, you wouldn't listen anyway,..right?