I have been thinking about this lately, what would I say to myself at 16 with all the knowledge and world wisdom I have today?
I might say this:
At 16 you think you know all about the world, but let me tell you, some surprises are in store.
You are going to make decisions along the way to this age I am now, 62, that will change the course and direction many times in your life. Sometimes life will look bleak and you will often think you have made the wrong decisions, but in ‘my’ view of the long years of your life, which I have now, those directions you took, led you exactly here and if nothing else, please know that in the far distant future you will be happy and fullfilled and satisfied, for the most part, with the life ‘you have lived’.
Oh I know you will not believe me and you will think otherwise, but it’s true.
I hope that as you pass through the years you will remember always to be kind to yourself, to not condemn yourself, to see you life as a series of experience which I have now come to see that is truly what they are. Experiences. Be as kind, nurturing and loving to yourself as you are and will be to others!
You will call your life tragic for a long time, I fear, but you will come to see otherwise, trust me on that.
Most of all I wish you to enjoy and savor each moment of your life, to store up treasured memories and keep them safe for me, your older self.
So what would you tell the younger ‘you’, at any age you choose?
Crossposted at Village Blue
