1. Your name is not ugly and too hard to pronounce; people are just too damn lazy and ignorant.
2. Having a date to school dances is not a measure of self-worth or beauty.
3. You don’t have to shave your legs every day in order to wear shorts.
4. Women’s and Gender Studies is one of the coolest subjects in college. “Feminist” is one of the coolest things you will ever call yourself.
5. When you sang “someday, I’ll be living in a big ol’ city, and all you’ll ever gonna be is mean”, you were waaayyy more accurate than your 14-year-old heart could have ever known.
6. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Also, just because you cannot see an illness, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
7. Taking all of those AP classes was so worth it.
8. Not drinking in high school was an excellent decision.
9. Never let anyone you don’t trust into your dorm room. You aren’t being prude or uptight.
10. Menstruation is not disgusting; half of humanity does it. Don’t feel bad about talking about it.
11. F*ckboys will break your heart, and they will not care that they did so. But that does not mean you can’t put the pieces back together.
12. Never stop being stubborn. Stay indomitable.
13. Calling Tato because you are sad and need fatherly advice is always a good idea.
14. Never let anyone convince you to call your dad “Dad” because “this is America and we speak English”.
15. Never feel bad about enforcing your boundaries.
16. Men who are not trash will understand that “men are trash” does not apply to them, and they will not feel the urgent need to yell BuT nOt aLL MeN R tRasH
17. Never let anyone attempt to compliment you by saying “you are ___, unlike other girls.” Other girls are awesome.
18. Dropping a course because the professor is acutely disorganized does not make you a bad student.
19. It’s okay to ask for help; lions flourish because they live in prides.
20. “Teach them that it’s important to be creative and necessary to help others” is the best advice you will ever get. Second only to “boys are stupid, Marta.”
21. Joining Her Campus DePaul was an excellent idea.