I am sure that there are a lot of teenage guardians on here that may be struggling to find their way... Middle/ high school can be a confusing time and how you handle it is the foundation for the rest of your life... About me, I am 28yrs old. When I was in high school, I was the "cool" friend to the "geeks" and the "smart" friend to the "trouble makers".... One of my best friends was a girl who became my wife and mother to my 2 kids... Let's start 1) DONT DO DRUGS (cliche, i know, but most important) i am not saying to never drink or smoke a bit of weed, because lord knows that I did both in high school, the KEY thing here is what ever you do, DO NOT TAKE PILLS, every one of my "trouble maker" friends went down this path and became drug addicts, taking percocets WILL lead to taking oxicottins which will lead to doing heroin... IF YOU ONLY LISTEN TO ONE THING I SAY, MAKE IT THIS, I have had 4 friends DIE from drug overdoses that started out taking pills... And if you do smoke weed, keep it in moderation, do not become a "pot head" 2) TRY TO GET GOOD GRADES! Doing good in school DOES MATER, it helps teach you how to prioritize and will help you get into college (where you will meet college girls) and may even help you get a scholarship so that you don't have to pay student loans... Because owing someone $80k+ is definatly not cool... 3) LIKE YOUR SELF the girl that you like will not like you if you do not like yourself, shit, no one will like you if you do not like yourself, don't beat yourself up about not being perfect, no one is, you are who you are and that's ok... 4) TRY TO SMILE MORE OFTEN No one wants to be around someone who looks depressed, they think it will bring down their own mood, but if you smile, they will feel like being around you will make them happy too and will want to be around you... 5) NOT EVERYONE WILL LIKE YOU... That's ok, you cannot please everyone so don't try some people are just assholes, don't take it to heart and don't let it bring you down... Keep loyal to your loyal friends 6) DONT BE AFRAID TO TALK TO THE GIRL THAT YOU LIKE Don't let your fear of rejection keep you from trying, the only thing worse than being turned down is wondering if you had a chance... YOU WILL GET TURNED DOWN, but that's normal, think about it like this, you didn't beat crota the first time you tried, but if you had been too afraid to try because you thought you might not be able to do it, you would NEVER have beat him... It takes a few attempts, but you must try and fail if you want to eventually try and succeed... 7) DONT SMOKE CIGARETTES ask anyone who does over the age of 25... They all wish they never started... It costs a lot of money, your breath and whole body will smell like an ashtray, you will be out of breath and spend a whole lot of time "going to have a cigarette" you will have a whole slew of health problems and die early as a result of it... The first few cigarettes will get you light headed, but after that they all make you feel sick and have a headache... All for what? Looking "cool" FYI it doesn't look cool, for that "light headed feeling" is that worth everything i just mentioned?... That is all that I have time for now... Anyone else can chime in with tips for the life "newbs" if they want to... And feel free to AMA Edit: thought this was great... http://youtu.be/pXhUXAerur8