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To love oneself is like beginning of a lifelong romance.

Oscar Wilde

Love yourself. Love the things that make you you. Your values and talents and memories. Your clothes, your nose, your woes. If you love yourself, you can jump into your life from a springboard of self-confidence. If you love yourself, you can say what you want to say, go where you want to go.

The world can be a tough place, and some of the billions of people, out there will try to knock you down. Don't join them. Do things that make you proud, then take pride in what you do. And in who you are.

Who are you anyway? What makes you you? How are you like your siblings and neighbors and friends? How are you different? If you were your secret admirer, what would you most admire?

"My great mistake, the fault for which I can't forgive myself," Oscar Wilde wrote, "is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality." Keep pursuing your individuality. Keep being yourself. Becoming you self. It can be comforting to dress and act like everyone else. But it is grander to be different, to be unique, to be you.

I'm the only me in the whole wide world.There is always one true inner voice.Trustit.

Gloria Steinem

Sometimes it's hard to know who you are and what you want and whom you like and why you like that person. The answers change because you're changing. Growing.But deep inside, you are you. You were you as a baby, you were you as a kid, and you are you right now."Let me listen to me and not to them," wrote Gertrude Stein. It makes sense to consider the advice and opinions of other people. But don't lettheir noise drown out your inner voice. And don't let the way you sometimes talk or behave in front of others make you lose sight of who you are when you are alone, when you are most you."You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself," aviator Beryl Markham cautioned. Get acquainted with yourself. Tune in to the dreams you have by day and by night. Blend in when you choose to, but appreciate the qualities that set you apart.Anybody can be one of the crowd.

Being a teenager is a confusing time. That's the lovely thing that happens as you grow older: You are more confident and more loving of yourself It's easier to say,"You know that's just not me."

Vanessa Williams

It takes years to discover who you are and to understanding the rules of the game. Years to figure out how to be loyal to yourself and respectful of others. Tom Cruise said, "I truly believe high school is Just about the toughest time in anyone's life." The good news: Confidence is cumulative. As Alanis Morissette sings: "You five, you learn."Adolescents and adults have always had difficulty appreciating each other. Here's what Socrates wrote way back in 400 B.C.: "Young people nowadays love luxury; they have bad manners and contempt for authority. They show disrespect for old people ... contradict their parents, talk constantly in front of 'company, gobble their food and tyrannize their teachers."Some strife is inevitable. But harmony and respect between generations is still a worthy and attainable goal.No wonder I go up avid down--these are roller-coaster years. For Girls Only. Copyright © by Carol Weston. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.