Cecilia has to pick her high school classes this week. Yeah, it took a hot minute for that to sink in initially.

If I could go back to my eighth grade self and give him one bit of advice it would be to dial back the stress and subsequent anxiety by a factor of 10. The “right” classes and the “right” school matter far less than the everyday habits that you develop during this time.

Those are far better indicators, and far better tools, to navigate through life.

Don’t believe me, eight grade self? Maybe you’ll listen to Leonard Cohen. Adolescents seem to gel with his vibe:

Sometimes when you no longer see yourself as the hero of your own drama, you know, expecting victory after victory, and you understand deeply that this is not paradise and you’re not gonna get it all straight.

I found that things got a lot easier when I no longer expected to win.

You understand that, you abandon your masterpiece, and you sink into the real masterpiece…