\u201cIf you could travel back in time for a few hours and sit down with yourself as a teenager or young adult, what advice would adult you want to give younger you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s an interesting exercise to ask yourself that question. And it’s interesting to feel the emotions that come as you consider the way you’d answer that question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this week I was speaking at a University to students and that question came up during Q&A. I shared with them a few of the things I\u2019d want to tell my younger self if I was able to visit her back in college:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Don\u2019t be so hard on yourself and stop picking yourself apart in the mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Don\u2019t ever be afraid to try – trying is how you are going to learn things that make you smarter, wiser, and stronger. And don\u2019t worry about failing because it\u2019s not a failure if you learned something that can make you better as you move ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
*It\u2019s important to know that you can\u2019t ever control an outcome, but you\u2019ll always be in control of your efforts. So focus on giving your very best effort to everything you do and then trust that whatever the outcome, even the ones that seem disastrous in the moment, it is exactly the best outcome for you because it is the outcome that will lead you to the place you are actually meant to be…which by the way is a place that’s far more glorious than anything you have even begun to imagine yet. That I can promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*I need you to know that you are going to go through some hard things\u2026actually, you’ll go through a lot of hard things\u2026.way more than you\u2019ll want to have to go through\u2026.but I need you to know that you aren’t going to go through them alone. And during some of the darkest moments you\u2019ll pass through you\u2019ll be blessed to feel of the presence of Angels that are there with you, letting you know you aren’t alone and that you will get through those hard times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Not only will you get through the hard times, but one day you will look back at them with appreciation and recognize all of the valuable lessons they\u2019ve taught you – how much smarter they made you, and the humility they provided you, and the way they increased your compassion and empathy for others, and a million other ways they refined you and make you into the person you were supposed to become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*It truly is all going to be okay in the end\u2026it\u2019s going to be better than okay\u2026.it\u2019s going to be AWESOME!!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After I’d shared the advice that “me today” would go back and tell “me back in college” I couldn’t help but realize how much “me today” benefited from having to think through that advice I’d give because deep down “me today” needed to hear it again too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What advice would you give your younger self?<\/p>\n\n\n\n