January 7, 2021SHOULD I LEARN A NEW HOBBY TO IMPRESS MY CRUSH??? Hi Nikki,So I’ve got a problem: my crush is WAY into snowboarding. All winter long, every single weekend, it’s like his favorite thing to do!! I may have made up a TEENY-TINY fib and told him that I LOVE snowboarding too (Confession: I don’t. I’m totally clumsy and I hate being outside in the cold!!!). Then he asked me to go to a snowboarding party for his birthday with him and his friends. His parents are paying for everything! I’d LOVE to spend time with him, but he’ll totally find out that I’m a phony!!! Now I’ve got three weeks to become a great snowboarder or lose a totally awesome chance to hang with my crush. WHAT SHOULD I DO??? ☹A Not-So-Sneaky Snowboarder Dear Not-So-Sneaky Snowboarder, I totally get wanting to impress your crush. I may have told a teeny-tiny fib or two before to impress other people, too. But it’s not my fault! I’m a people pleaser! Shouldn’t that be a good thing??? So if I was to, um, try to do something like, say, skiing down an expert slope that I have NO BUSINESS SKIING DOWN just because I want to talk to my crush (and also because my arch-nemesis MacKenzie Hollister tricked me into it), can we REALLY say that it would technically be a BAD THING? Really??? Can we??? Well, maybe read my 7th diary to find out (Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star)! In all seriousness, I like to make a pros and cons list for this type of situation. Let’s start with the PROS: Shopping for a supercool new snowboarding outfit and some gear could be fun!Maybe the ski lifts will be broken and you can just walk around with your cool rented snowboard, flashing smiles and waving at people with your awesome new gloves. Or better yet, you could stay inside near a fireplace and sip some hot cocoa!You might end up being an AMAZING snowboarder! Like, how cool would that be?! ☺ Here are the CONS: Um, shopping for a bunch of stuff you won’t use again might not go over great with your parents.You don’t really like the idea of snowboarding.And you don’t really like being cold.AND you could totally wipe out and spend the next three months in a double leg cast! YIKES ☹!! Okay, now that we’ve got some pros and cons, let’s think of some options: If going to the snowboarding party makes you more stressed than excited, I would honestly say, don’t go. Just make an excuse—try to make it a real one because it’s never nice to lie to someone. Maybe suggest a hangout with friends for the same day and then tell your crush that you’re really sorry, but you have plans. Which will be true!Tell your crush that you’re not really that great of a snowboarder and you don’t want to hold him and his friends back from the slopes they want to ride on. If he says that it’s no big deal if you’re not as good as them, then maybe give it a try!Realize that friends have different interests. You don’t have to like EVERYTHING your crush does in order to have something in common. You could always nicely bail on the party, but think of some other way you could hang out, doing something that you both enjoy doing. When it comes down to it, if you keep lying about the snowboarding thing, it could become an even bigger problem down the line. While it’s definitely cool to take an interest in new hobbies and learn new things, if it’s not really your thing. . . that’s okay! Okay, readers! Have you ever learned a new hobby just to impress a crush? If so, how did it go?