What I Want You to Know

By Courtney Cole

When a daughter turns thirteen, it’s hard. When it’s YOUR daughter, it’s even harder. When author Courtney Cole’s daughter turned thirteen, Courtney had a moment of panic and decided that she needed to pen every piece of advice she could think of. This is everything she knows. Except for one thing. She forgot to include always have dessert. But that’s a given.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lakehouse Press, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519777225

Courtney Cole

Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author.  She was born and raised in rural Kansas, lived most of her adult life near Lake Michigan, and has recently relocated to Florida where she writes beneath palm trees.  

Book preview

1 Listen to your gut

Ithink this might be the most important thing, so I’ll say it first, and then I’ll remind you later.

It took me a long, long time to really learn this.

God gave us instincts for a reason, and that reason is to use them.

Listen to yourself, to that inner voice. It will start out as a whisper, and if you ignore it, it will progress into a scream. Heed it.

It might be about a person, it might be about a situation, it might be about a decision. Whatever the case may be, listen. Don’t doubt yourself. You’re a smart, smart girl.

You’re a logical person, like me, who likes to analyze everything. But sometimes, rational logic cannot out-do instinct. Don’t talk yourself out of listening to your gut.

It’s always smarter than your brain.

2 Be silly

You’re such a smart girl , so inquisitive, so sarcastic, so funny.

Don’t let your need to appear smart at all times hinder your need to let loose and be silly.

Silliness is a necessary part of life. It lets us release tension, it allows us to take some pressure off of ourselves, sort of like a steam-valve. We’re not perfect all the time, and there is no reason to be.

Laugh at yourself. It’s ok.

Dance in the kitchen, slide across the floor in your socks, sing at the top of your lungs in the car when Tainted Love comes on the radio, do your Warbling Penguin.

Life is as fun as you make it.

Be silly and enjoy every minute of it.

3 Don’t change who you are for anyone

You are smart , and that’s awesome.

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NEVER pretend you’re not as smart as you are just to make others feel better about themselves.

Too often, girls think it’s sexy to act clueless, to let boys/men feel like they’re superior. The fact is, you’re smarter than a lot of people, men and women alike, and that’s ok. That’s awesome.

Be smart.

Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket. Let it shine everywhere, in the big spaces and small, in the cracks, and everywhere in between.

4 Don’t be a Know-it-All

There’s a fine line between trying to diminish yourself to make others feel comfortable, and being a know-it-all.

Don’t diminish yourself by pretending not to be smart, but also don’t be that person who thinks they have to be right all the time, or announce everything they know in every sentence, in every conversation.

Know-it-alls are annoying, and they grate on someone’s nerves quicker than quick.

There is grace in being intelligent, but in not feeling the need to correct others in every conversation. Learn the skill of ‘picking your battles’. Meaning, know when it’s important to correct someone, and when it’s better to just let it go.

Not pointing out that someone is wrong doesn’t detract from your knowledge, it just saves them from embarrassment.

5 Your actions speak louder than words

The old saying Do what I say, not what I do, is dumb.

Your actions speak much louder than words, so