The older I get, the more I realize that the girls I idolized, envied, or despised in middle school are people who were going through their own issues, who I might have really liked if I’d gotten to know them.

Thank you so much for this project— it resonates with me on so many levels. In 6th grade, I was the awkward girl sitting by myself at lunch and having crushes from afar, but I still feel so, so much empathy for you, and for how really hard being an adolescent is, in so many ways. The older I get, the more I realize that the girls I idolized, envied, or despised in middle school are people who were going through their own issues, who I might have really liked if I’d gotten to know them.

PS— thank you also for prompting me to go back to some of my old journals (I’ve been posting entries on my blog). It’s great to see my old feelings, perspectives, thoughts on friends and boys, with the fresh eyes of the older and wiser 27 year old me.