Advice to Your Younger Self

Photo taken by Nancy Range Anderson


 

 Back when I was a consultant and working with adults, I asked this question, “If you could say anything to your younger self what would it be?”

I got lots of answers, some funny, some deep and some that had an underlying meaning known only to that person.

 

 

 

 

Some of the responses including my own were:

·       Be Yourself, not what you think you should be

·       Be Yourself, not a clone of someone else

·       Follow your dreams

·       Forgive yourself (this one was mentioned a lot)

·       Choose a career in a field that excites you

·       Don’t be so hard on yourself

·       Get up after falling down

·       Learn from your mistakes

·       It’s not the end of the world

·       Hurting after a lost love doesn’t mean that you’ll never love again

·       Choose you

·       Follow your heart

·       Trust yourself

·       Believe in yourself

·       Say no – you don’t have to say yes to everything

·       It’s ok to cry -it’s healing

·       Laugh

·       Make time for family

·       Make time for friends

·       Life is hard – no question about that. But it is also amazing

·       The years really do pass in the blink of an eye

·       Be present

·       Take risks even if it feels uncomfortable

·       Embrace change even if it feels uncomfortable

·       Be present – with your family, with your career and looking at the world

There are so many more and they all point to the same thing.

It’s a reminder…
that no matter where we are in life,
there’s still something we’d want that younger version of ourselves to know. Open your eyes, live your life, work hard, love harder. You’ll get through this.  It hits all of us.

I heard a song today that brought all of this rushing back.
While it’s written for a young teenager and speaks to bullying, it feels universal.

Dear Me, written by Diane Warren and performed by Kesha.

What would you want your younger self to know? 

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