If you could turn back time…
Well, maybe not turn it back completely, but what if you could send your younger self a message?
Would you give yourself advice? Offer up some needed encouragement? Tell yourself that everything is going to turn out okay?
Or maybe warn yourself away from some activity, an investment of money or time or self… Perhaps you’d warn yourself to stay away from somebody?
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steadily skipping stones 
I’m 20! What message can I possibly give myself that I can’t give now? 😛
That is a conundrum! One girl I asked wasn’t 20 yet, so she talked to her 40 year old self. What would you say right now to the future, 40 year old you?
My whole blog is that. 😛
Have you read it?
Haha, yes! I’m so sorry – I answered on the way out the door and didn’t give myself a chance to consider who I was talking to. I have read your blog! I think letters to our future selves are a great idea. We forget too much of what we learn along the way and end up repeating a lot of lessons. Sometimes over and over. Of course, the trick is to make sure your future self remembers to go back and read your own advice!
Yeah, I know. I hope I will be able to fix that somehow. :S
When I was 20, I was already starting my career. Professionally I had things well in-hand. I’d tell myself to work less and have fun more. There’s plenty I should tell me about love and men who don’t commit, but I haven’t quite figured out what to say to me yet!
Yeah, I think some lessons just take a lifetime to learn. If not longer!
I would say,
“Patricia, just be yourself, who you are. Don’t try to be who and what others expect or want you to be. You have been given this gift of your life–not another’s–yours.
The journey will be good and bad, easy and hard, filled with love and loss, happiness and sorrow. Some times will be exciting and others boring, some scary and some joyous. You will feel empty at times and filled to overflowing at times. There will be seasons of clarity and light and seasons of confusion and darkness.
Much of life will be tough. You will make mistakes–a couple of really big ones. Remember it’s a journey, there will be times to rest but not to stop. Ask forgiveness, forgive others, forgive yourself, then go on.
You will not just survive but you will flourish. You will never be forsaken and alone and there will be wonderful blessings beyond anything you can imagine. Go–live your life.”
What a great comment – I can’t believe I missed it. So, here I am responding a little over a year later. You struck a chord with me just now about the forgiveness. We need to be able to do that to move on, for other people to be able to move on, too. But really especially with ourselves. I didn’t used to forgive myself enough, even for tiny mistakes and blunders. But I’m working on that and it does make a difference in my self-esteem, and so therefore in my whole life.
I am sort of glad you missed it…I needed to read what I wrote, today. Sometimes I still forget to just be me with no apologies.
You know, I thought that too, as I was responding – that maybe it was for a reason, and maybe the timing was that way for a purpose. I came to it because my friend commented on it out of the blue. And I thought that it was great timing for me, too. 🙂 God knows what he’s doing, haha!
Yes, He does and I know it…but I am still arguing with Him now and then.
Oh Lord, yes, I sure wish I could council my younger self. I was petrified as a young mother, and how I wish I could get those years back. I would enjoy my young children so much more, and worry so much less…
and there were a couple of Leaps I could have made, but lacked the courage. How many times I’ve wished for a “Do-Over”.
I wonder about things like that, if we could advise ourselves to worry less and enjoy more, I don’t know if that younger self would be capable of following that advice. I think we have to come through so much, experience so much, to come to the realization that things do turn out okay in the end.
On the other hand, maybe we would trust that information if it were coming from ourselves! I also wish I could go back and prod myself into doing some more courageous things, into taking chances.
I would probably tell myself to stop worrying so much about how things could go wrong, about hurting other people, and what other people would think. I’m a big worry wort and being overly cautious is how I’m wired. I have no regrets in life but sometimes I wished I had taken a little more risks, more chances.
Worrying is a big one! Especially worrying about what other people do or will think of you. I wish I had spent less time doing that.
I’ve had this same idea many times. I would tell myself to worry less and live with no fear, not care what others think of me, and stay away from certain men!
Yes, I think staying away from certain people in general is a pretty common theme. I loved what my friend said about a former boyfriend of hers and listening to her mother – if it looks like trouble…that’s cause it is!
You know, I actually reconnected with my high school boyfriend earlier this year. He was definitely a “bad boy,” but he had done pretty well with himself in life. However, after a few hours of conversation, I realized he really hadn’t changed all that much after all. I was glad I had moved on!
You know some parts of me would just say ” keep on doing what you are doing, you are creating a wonderful future for yourself!” but then another part of me wants to say ” Wake Up Girl! Smell the Coffee! Start Living your life, Live, Laugh, Love!” but I know in my heart that the first of the 2 statements is best! ❤
Yeah, I can understand that – I have those moments when I think the same thing, that I need to do something big and really get out there and LIVE. But that’s not really me, not who I am at the core of me. I am much better off with the slow and steady approach. And I need to celebrate that instead of trying to be something I admire, but something I’m not.
Oh and I forgot to add….There is only 1 day, 1 minute, that one moment that I would ever change……but then would it have made things worse? What happens to us happens for a reason if we like it or not. God never gives us more than we can hold!
That is the question. There are things that I would definitely change if I had the chance, but whole other worlds beyond mine would also change. And I am curious what that other life would look like, but I don’t know if I’d want to give up this life for that one.