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Michelle Branch's Advice to Her 18-Year-Old Self Will Make You So Nostalgic

Watch Michelle Branch give her old self advice for 'Teen Vogue's' Letter to My 18 Year Old Self video series. Warning: it WILL make you nostalgic.

Released on 04/07/2017


You're gonna get this heart on your finger when you

get married, and when your marriage ends, you're gonna

get this anchor.

And you're gonna get a star on the back of your neck,

in Boulder, maybe you shouldn't get that tattoo. (laughs)

(guitar chords)

Hey, 18 year old Michelle.

This is Michelle from the future, and I ...

I have some things I would like you to know.

You are living in LA, you've moved out of your mom

and dad's house, you've never gone on tour before,

you've never played with a band before.

Your experience of playing concerts, is like, from a little

restaurant in Sedona, Arizona, on acoustic guitar.

When you go on tour, you are gonna suddenly find that

you are the boss of a band and crew of people who are

not only older than you, but they're dudes.

There's gonna be a lot of faking it till you make it.

And that doesn't just happen when you're 18,

that carries on into your 30s.

Don't ever second guess yourself.

The music business is primarily a man's business, and

as a younger female, it's easy to also feel intimidated

by that, and you feel obligated to say yes to everything,

and it's okay to say no.

You are stronger than you think you are,

you are wiser than you give yourself credit for,

and your first instinct is usually always correct.

You're gonna start a relationship in your late teens and

early 20s, and you're gonna have a beautiful daughter

to show for it.

The person you are at the beginning of the relationship

isn't going to be the same person you are when you enter

your 30s, and that's okay, because people grow,

and people change, and you're gonna learn

a lot about yourself.

And the thing that's going to get you through that,

is you're gonna have a feeling deep down in the pit

of your stomach that everything happens for a reason,

and everything's gonna be okay.

You're about to go on tour, and travel the world,

and it's gonna be really complicated to keep in touch.

And a lot of people who said that they were gonna miss you

and stay in touch, haven't.

And there's gonna be a handful of people who do remain

in your life, and it's gonna be the kind of beautiful

thing where, you might go, you know, six months without

talking to someone, and you're gonna be able to pick back

up where you left off.

Don't sweat it if you lose friends in the process,

because the people who stick around are gonna be

the ones who have your back no matter what.

As an 18 year old, especially in the spotlight,

you are incredibly insecure, like most 18 year olds,

and you tend to care a lot about, what do other people

think of me.

And as you get older, you're going to find a confidence

that you don't have yet, and you're gonna realize that

you don't care what other people think.

And you're gonna really start to feel comfortable in your

own skin, and stop comparing yourself to other people.

At the end of the day, you are the only person who is

gonna show up for yourself.

So, don't feel guilty if you need to take time

for yourself, to go see beautiful art, read a book,

take time for yourself.

It's really, really important.

The beauty is, you are going to one day be 33,

soon to be 34, and there are gonna be times when you

still feel the same way you do now.

You're gonna talk to your friends, you're gonna talk

to your sister, and you're all going to secretly tell

each other, like, Oh, we still don't have it figured

out yet, and that's okay.

And there's kind of a comfort in knowing that

it never changes, that you're learning ...

You never stop learning, and it keeps going and going,

and life just becomes even bigger and more beautiful

than you ever can imagine.

Michelle, you got this, I love you.