If you are ever at a party, smoking cigarettes on a rooftop with some girl with extremely rugged jeans and green hair, ask her how her day was. I promise you won’t regret it. Because unconventional people have the most exciting stories to tell.

If you are ever hanging out with your closest guy friend, just the two of you, and he turns around and kisses you, kiss him back. Yeah, it might make your friendship weird, but you can always work on your friendship. Or you could always make new friends. Regret on the other hand is difficult to work through. Because one day, you’ll be alone in your bed at two in the morning and you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from wondering how he would have tasted like.

If you are ever at a party taking shots, playing truth or dare and they dare you to make out with some girl. It is okay to say no if you do not feel drunk enough and you know you will remember it the next morning and feel like throwing up. Who cares if they call you uptight and not fun. Those are your lips after all, no?

If you ever like a guy who doesn’t like you back, don’t pretend it doesn’t hurt. Cry yourself to sleep if you must. Hell, cry for weeks if you want to. Write cheesy poems. Listen to sad music. Just know that eventually, you have to put it behind you and trust me, a lot of times, the easiest way to do it is to go on that coffee date with that other guy.

If you ever break up with your first love. Baby, that is going to sting for years on end. Because yeah, a woman never really forgets her first love. You just have to do whatever it takes to heal. Do not date anyone for a while if you do not want to. Move towns if you have to. Write him angry letters. Burn those angry letters. Cry until you throw up. Drink until you pass out. Let yourself grieve. Let yourself heal.

If life ever brings you disappointment after disappointment, heartbreak after heartbreak, as it will. If it is ever too much for you to bear, so much so, you feel like you are drowning in tears, losing your will to live. Here is what you do; you take a break, and you go figure things out. You go find yourself. Travel the world, go for walks at one in the morning, watch the sunset, listen to crickets. Come home.

If you ever forget who you are. Or if you ever feel the pressure to be someone else, spend a few days alone. Remind yourself who you are. And whoever that is, just remember you are the very definition of perfection. And that is enough. Take it from me, one of the most painful things in life is losing yourself. Trust me kiddo, you do not want to go down that road.

If you ever find yourself over-thinking things like why that guy you met on the bus and asked for your number hasn’t called you, or why he didn’t ask you on a second date, or why he just stopped talking to you. Just remember that not everyone you meet in your life is meant to stay. Some are meant to make that bus ride less boring, or for late night conversations that night you had an argument with your mum and your best friend is offline.

If you are ever eating your favorite snack and your friend asks for some, give it to them. Yeah, it is things like these that will give you mini heart attacks and put you in so much pain. But someday, you are going to look back and treasure those moments. And if that doesn’t happen, you could always take pride in your alleged generosity and selflessness.

If you are ever feeling alone, or sad or sacred, you call me. And I will send you a couple of Drake’s albums. And when you get them, you first listen to ‘Shot For Me’ in ‘Take Care. ’ Because that is my favorite song and that will be my way of telling you that I know what you are going through because I have been where you are. You just have to wait it out, you’ll be okay.