That was the question Emily Clarkson asked me in our recent video

If you haven’t heard of Em Clarkson then check her out.  She is the founder of Pretty Normal Me, a website aimed at normalising being a woman.  Em and I met last year and despite our age difference we found we had a lot in common.  We are both challenging the perceptions of our different age groups and helping women to feel confident, better about themselves and their bodies.

On the strength of the website, Em has a book published this summer, you can pre-order on Amazon now, titled ‘Can I Speak to Someone in Charge’.  The book runs much along the same lines as Pretty Normal Me and you’ll find Em asking the questions we all want answered.

Chapter one of Em’s book finds her writing to her thirteen year old self and this prompted the Hindsight Series.  I was the first guest to discuss what I would tell myself at that age.

At 13 I was a tall gangly teenager who preferred spending time with horses than people.  I never quite fitted into my comprehensive school although I still have friends I made at the time.  Not fully understanding the benefits of education, I never felt it prepared me for the future.  If only I had chosen a job where I needed to know about crop rotation in Africa.

Fashion was more of a trial than a pleasure especially when you can’t find trousers long enough.  My mother made all my trousers and jeans were out of the question, no one had considered a woman might want jeans with a 33” inside leg.  I was never a ‘cool kid’.

Thirteen is the in-between age where you are neither child nor adult, when children bore you and adults embarrass you.  I’ve made a conscious effort never to ask a teenager what they want to be when they grow-up!

Watch our video and let me know what you would tell your thirteen year old self.