By: Sarah Cooke / Source: Care 2
I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell didn’t have it all figured out when I was younger—although there were more than a few times when I thought I did!
And I’m sure that in another 10 years, I’ll be looking back on today and think, my god, I was clueless! But at the risk of giving my future self yet another memory to laugh at and shake her head about, here are four words of wisdom I’d give to my younger self.
Love your body
I remember being in high school and constantly feeling mortified about my supposedly gargantuan thighs and bulbous stomach. This led to a downward spiral of self-judgment and calorie counting that would haunt me for the next decade.
But the truth is, we are all perfectly valuable people who are worthy of love regardless of what the scale says—and our bodies all deserve kindness and respect.
Go with the flow
In my teens and early twenties, I thought I had to have my life all planned out. I had to get good grades so that I could get into the right college, then the right grad school.
And that, I believed, would set me on the straight and narrow road to professional success. But, little did I know, life takes unexpected turns. Just because one path turns out not to be as perfect as you’d imagined doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
It means you’ve learned something about what you don’t want, and you’re one step closer to what you do. Trust your intuition—if something feels right deep down, go with it.
And if something feels wrong, don’t hesitate to hightail it the hell outta there.
Stop people pleasing
I was extremely concerned—no, let’s be honest, I was obsessed—with making other people happy when I was younger. It wasn’t so much that I felt I needed approval, but if I believed I was letting other people down in some way, the guilt I experienced was intolerable.
But ultimately, I came to realize that the only way I was going to live my happiest and most authentic life—and to make the greatest contribution I could—was to allow myself to be my own person.
It’s important to show up for the people you care about, but you need to respect your own boundaries as well. Don’t allow others to have undue control over the important decisions in your life.
Don’t take yourself so seriously
We all screw up. We all make mistakes. We all look pretty ridiculous at times. But that’s okay! It’s just part of life. And it’s important to be able to laugh at that and to know that you don’t always need to have it all together.
Sometimes, you will fall apart. Don’t criticize yourself for that—instead, treat yourself with compassion. Cry, laugh and keep moving forward.
