I felt stronger, more capable, and yes, more confident. The simple act of not slouching made me braver in situations that were scary. By walking, sitting, and standing like a self-assured person you can actually start to believe it.

But this painful and embarrassing occurrence can be avoided by changing my hairstyle every now and then. It's a line that goes all the way around my head and doesn't come out with brushing. Unfortunately it causes a terrible condition, one that I have to deal with if I want to let it down during the day: the dreaded hair lump. It's easy and keeps my hair out of my face. But since that is not likely to occur any time soon, the best way to feel good about your body is through healthy eating and exercising. On the bright side, if a zombie apocalypse ever happens, my survival body will hold on to every calorie. Unfortunately I missed out on the magical teenage metabolism that so many of my friends possessed.

Here's a list of some of the pearls of wisdom that I learned from that year.īelieve me, I wish there was a magic pill that could give me a perfect body without having to leave the comfort of ice cream and long hours with Netflix on the couch. The ensuing social experiment had a humorous, fascinating, and ultimately profound effect on my life.

I applied each topic to my life aged 13 and wrote about everything that happened: the good, the bad, and the utterly mortifying. In writing my memoir Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, I followed advice from Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide, a book written by a teen model in the 1950s.

Popular a memoir by maya van wagenen