Amanda Ford - Be True to Yourself: A Daily Guide for Teenage Girls

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at

500 Third Street, Suite 230

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2000 by Amanda Ford

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Cover Illustration/Photography: Carol Kohen/ImageBank

Cover and book design: Claudia Smelser

ISBN-10: 1-57324-189-X

ISBN-13: 978-1-57324-189-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ford, Amanda.

Be true to yourself : daily meditations for teenage girls / Amanda Ford.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 157324189X (trade paper : alk. paper)

1. Teenage girlsConduct of life. [1. Conduct of life. 2. Youths' writings.] I. Title.

BJ1651 .F67 2000

158.1'28'08352dc21

00-035886

Printed in Canada.

TCP 10 9 8 7

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To my listening ear, my encouragement, my favorite friend, my inspiration

my mom

I n sisterhood...

The closer we get to adulthood, the bigger everything gets. Our bodies curve outward and upward, our worlds expand further and further beyond our homes, and our knowledge grows more and more into the arena we once thought was reserved for adults. It's hard to keep up with all of our feelings and ideas. They're multiplying by the second. Unfortunately, the pressures in our lives seem to multiply, too!

Our families, friends, teachers, romantic interests, and the media all have messages for usthey want to tell us how to look, how to act, and what to want from our lives. What we want isn't always easy to figure out. With all this pressure, how do we get to the other side of our teen years in one piece? We need all the help we can get!

As Managing Editor of Teen Voices, a national magazine written by and for teen women, I know how much the stories of other young women can help us to become stronger ourselves. In Be True to Yourself, Amanda Ford offers to be our big sister for a year. At twenty years old, she recently made it into adulthood, and she's willing to share what she's learned from her experiences.

Amanda reminds us to accept compliments (because we deserve them), to love ourselves (because we need it), to support other young women (because it brings us up, too), and to write in our journals (because what we have to say is important)and that's just the beginning! Amanda encourages us to use this book to take a break each day. We all have a million things to do, but we have to spend some time thinking about what we want from our lives and relationships.

As your world gets larger and larger, take what you can from Be True to Yourself. And keep thinking, dreaming, and growingbigger and bigger!

I never had a sister, but I always wished for two: an older and a younger sister. The older sister could enlighten me in the ways of the teen world. She would introduce me to older guys, give me fashion advice, tell me all the how-to's of kissing, and help me put on makeup for my big dates. I would flop onto her bed to cry about the boy who broke my heart, the friends who betrayed me, and my feelings of depression as she sat near, listening and comforting me. She would be there to lift my spirits when I didn't make the varsity volleyball team, when I failed my biology test, and when the hairdresser cut my hair so short that I looked like a boy.

With my younger sister, I could take over the role of guide. I would listen to her with an empathetic ear and remember what I felt like when I was in her place. I would teach her how to sneak out of the house without getting caught, let her study for her geometry final using my old test, and lend her my favorite outfit to wear on a night out with her friends. I would tell her about how I got a huge zit on the end of my nose the night before my first real date, and let her know she isn't the only girl who wishes she had a boyfriend. When she was sad, I would assure her that life always has a way of working out, and that soon things would get better. I would share my stories and give her advice so that she might get through the difficult teen years a little easier than I did.

Be True to Yourself has become the sisters I never had. It provides the encouragement and guidance I wished, as a teenager, that an older sister had given me, as well as stories and advice that I would share with my younger sister during her tumultuous teen years.

Be True to Yourself is set up as a book of daily thoughts and advice, but you don't have to use it like one. If the topic for a particular date doesn't fit you that day, look at the index in the back of the book, turn to a topic that interests you more, and go to that entry. Read this book every day, or read it randomly whenever you feel you need a little bit of guidance or support. Each entry is short and quick to read, but certain to help enhance your life.

Because I am only twenty years old, the teenager inside me is still vividly alive in my heart and mind. I can still feel the intense pain, joy, struggles, confusion, victories, and disappointments I encountered as a teen. Because I am twenty, I also have the ability to look back on my teenage years with a fresh perspective to see what mistakes I made and what things I did right. Be True to Yourself is everything I learned while being a teenage girl, and I hope it helps you like a big sister would as you grow from a little girl made of sugar and spice into the magnificent young woman you are becoming.