Growing up, I had to fend for myself.
As an only child, I made decisions based on my own assumptions. I didn’t have older siblings to probe for insight or advice and I relied on my friends to influence my decisions.
I didn’t know any better and I sometimes made poor choices. My choices lacked clarity and judgement, and I may have found myself in some unfortunately sticky situations. Such is life though and I can promise you that I learned (valuable) lessons from (most of) my mistakes.
If I could go back and help myself and offer some words of wisdom to the younger, naive version of me, this is what I would say:
1: Don’t rush. Life is not a race! – Slow it down, take a breath, and do things at your own pace. This way, you’ll enjoy every thing that much more and be less likely to have any hints of regret later on.
2. Don’t do things in an attempt to be “cool”. – Chances are, you’ll seem less cool for doing so. If your heart ain’t into it, then forget it. Stand up for your individual decisions. People will actually respect you more for doing so.
3. Eat breakfast!! Pack a lunch & some snacks while you’re at it too! – Stop wasting so much money at the sandwich joint or the candy store. Stop acting like you actually enjoy that so-called ‘food’ from the cafeteria and feed your body something nutritious for once.
4. Save your hard earned money. – You worked hard for that money, so why not save it for something special? No one’s really going to care about your $50 Roxy t-shirt and $120 Mavi jeans with no pockets. Seriously.
5. Respect yourself. – Don’t let people treat you any less than you deserve. Don’t tolerate it if there’s no good reason for their torture. You don’t need people like that in your life; you are better than that.
6. BOYS are a waste of time. – Something better will come along. Don’t waste your heart and your time on a silly, immature boy who can’t treat you like you should be treated. Wait, for a MAN.
7. Take important things seriously. – Keep your grades up, pay attention. Don’t take things for granted. See the importance in the things you don’t think matter…
8. Don’t look for the easy way out. – Stop slacking and suck it up. Put in the hard work, and you’ll be more pleased with the outcomes.
9. You WILL get hurt. – It’s unstoppable, but it won’t be the end of the world. Just take every thing with one small step at a time. Don’t let someone else or something you can’t control stop you from being happy.
I’m glad I made the decisions I did, I have no regrets. They’ve made me into who I am and they’ve shaped my current values, beliefs, and demeanour. But it definitely wouldn’t have hurt at all, to know what I know now – back then.
🙂