What Will You Tell Your Older Self?

In a quick Google search on the topic, ‘What advice would you give to your younger self?’ 812,000,000 results showed up. That doesn’t surprise me. How many readers have had this topic assigned to them or have assigned to their students as a school writing project? This week’s blog essay flips this question: What advice will you share with your older self?

Below is my message to my older self from my younger self. What do you think your younger self wants to tell your older self?

Dear Missy,

As we get older, please remember these few messages I, our younger self, shares with you, our older self:

• Be thankful ~ make gratitude a way of life

• Stay in the present moment ~ Remember, the past is gone and the future has not arrived

• Reduce our ego

• Take chances ~ take risks

• If we haven’t already, break the bonds of cultural, familial, generational, religious, political, gender, educational indoctrination

• Spend money on traveling, not on possessions

• Do not work constantly ~ we will not get rewarded for it

• Do not spend our time with ‘energy vampires’

• Do not be a crabby old person

• When our children are grown, do not hold on to the role/function of ‘parent’ ~ it’s not appropriate for them and not appropriate for us

• Stay connected to God/the Goddess, our Intuition, our Truth

• Maintain a spiritual practice

• Do not watch the news or puerile shows ~ they numb our brain

• Always have at least one dog ~ they will love us no matter what

• Be a good friend

• Always keep learning

• Lead with love, caring, patience, lack of bias toward others

• Get regular exercise and eat wisely to keep our body strong

• Read and write something every day

• Be kind to ourselves

• Laugh, but not at others

• Cultivate creativity

• Listen

• Not everything is about us

• Do not allow others to rob us of our joy

• Do not compare ourselves to anyone else

• Be wise with how we spend our money

• Identify our purpose and live it

• Quit the toxic job, the toxic relationships

• Do not immerse ourselves in anger, resentment, shame, blame, revenge, arrogance ~ Instead, be at peace

• Let go of dogma ~ Instead, embrace openness to the ideas, philosophies of others

• Breathe deeply

• Meditate daily

• Dress the way we want ~ Wear our hair the way we want

• Say ‘no’ and set strong boundaries ~ Say ‘yes’ only when we mean it

• Delight in nature

• Enjoy the passage of time

What would your younger self want to tell your older self?

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