This post is part of the June Synchroblog which asks the question “what would you tell your younger self if you could travel back in time?” So, without further ado, here you go …
Nothing mind blowing here – in fact, I feel like I have known these things all of my life, although it took a long time for me to “really” believe them.
My younger self would probably say, “tell me something I don’t know, like where to invest my money and who to marry!”
Yet, these are the things I would share with the hopes that my younger self would “get it” a lot sooner than I did …
1) You are enough! No, seriously, you are! So stop doubting yourself and get on with being “you”! Don’t waste any more time trying to be what you think others want you to be. Be you and enjoy it! You will be loved and accepted as you are! No, not by everyone – but there will be “enough” love and acceptance. So, believe in yourself! You are smart enough – you are good enough – you are pretty enough – you are enough!
PS Other people are also enough! Let them be who they are – give them lots of space and encouragement to be themselves!
2) Take more risks! Don’t just do the things that you know you are good at … do the things that you are passionate about – the things you dream of doing. Sure, you might have a few more failures but who knows what you might succeed at … and a few failures here and there make for a good story.
3) Give up perfectionism! Being perfect is way over-rated! AND it’s impossible to achieve! You will only end up frustrating yourself and others. Lower your expectations of yourself, others, even God! Relax a little more! Breathe deep several hundred times in a day! Spend more time in the present! You really don’t want to miss a thing!
4) Think for yourself! Don’t believe anything until you have thought about it, examined it, pondered it, studied it, argued against it and finally deemed it worthy to believe! No matter who said it or endorsed it! No matter how many people believe it or how long it has been believed! No matter how many times you have heard it! Think for yourself!
5) Always! Always! Always! stand up for what you believe in … while at the same time Always! Always! Always! take into consideration that you might be wrong about what you believe! So live out what you believe with conviction but hang on to enough humility to be able to receive new information. Your beliefs will change over time and it doesn’t have to be so hard when that happens.
6) Invest $50 in the stock market every month. Eat out less – buy a few less clothes – go out one less night a month. You can do it and it will be worth it!
7) Intentionally create stillness and quiet into your life. Learn to meditate and do it regularly. Go for walks or ride a bike alone. Sit and daydream. These things will open up the creative juices inside of you like nothing else. This is how you will discover the best ideas that are living inside of you. This will be one of the most important aspects to becoming a whole, healthy, happy person. Start immediately!
8) Trust your gut! You really can know what you should do, what job to take, who to date, what to purchase etc. That doesn’t mean you have to decide quickly. Take your time and think about it, gather information – but in the end trust your gut. You will know – so trust yourself!
9) Worry less! It doesn’t help. Think about what needs to happen and make a plan and do it … but stop worrying about it.
10) More often than not LOVE is the answer! I know it sounds cliche but it is true. Love is what matters and more times than not it is what wins in the end. It’s hard to explain but trust me on this one. Don’t ever give up on love! Give it, receive it, embrace it, practice it! LOVE LOVE LOVE! LOVE ON!
Be sure and check out the other synchroblog posts!
- Justin Steckbauer – What Do You Wish You Knew 10 or 20 years ago?
- Michael Donahoe – What I Wish I had Known
- Mary – What I Wish I Would Have Known as a Newlywed
- Heather Wheat – As a Young Mother, I Wish I Had Known…
- Michelle – Ten Years of Wisdom
- Michelle – Twenty Years of Wisdom
- Wesley Rostoll – If I Could Speak to a Younger Version of Me
- Peggy – From Peggy … To Peggy
- Glenn Hager – The Reluctant Time Lord
- Carol Kuniholm – Life Lessons from Lydia
- Edwin Adrich – A Note to My Younger Self
- Paul Metler – A Note to my 20 Year Ago Self
- Liz Dyer – Dear Me
- Kathy Escobar – Never Say Never
- Jeremy Myers – A Letter to the “Me” of 15 Years Ago
- Kimberly Klein – Be Free, Be You
- Susan Cottrell – Be Kind To Yourself
- Loveday Anyim – Hot Romance with the Dreams of the Sparkling Old Times
Grace Rules Weblog 
I so wish I’d known these things when I was younger! Saving a bit of money, taking more risks and giving up on perfectionism would have made life a lot easier.
Have you figured out how to actually believe and live out these things? If so, could you fill me in on the secret? I have an especially hard time with believing I am enough and not getting entrenched in worry about things. Great advice!
Michelle – It’s an ongoing process but one thing that helped me a lot was the stuff that Brene’ Brown has written … and also her TED videos.
” Intentionally create stillness and quiet into your life.” So hard, but so necessary.
Yes – it is hard. Especially for an extrovert like me who gets a lot of energy from interacting with others. But it’s SO important!
What great advice. Much of it I need to apply to myself today! I take that back… now that I have read through the list again…. ALL of it I need to apply to myself today. 😉
It is so great to see so many of the other bloggers saying things I wanted to say. Thanks! 🙂