Letter to my younger self

To celebrate of the launch of Ask Apricot, I am participating in the giveaway contest and will dedicate this blog post to the following question:

If you could write a letter to your younger self, giving advice for troubles that will happen in the future, what would it look like? What would you say? Would the letter be funny, or would it be serious?

So, here it goes…

___

Dear Little Me,

you are probably surprised to hear from me. I myself never thought that I would ever speak so openly to you, but I have to seize the opportunity when it arises… I would like to give you some valuable advice which will prevent some heartache in the future. Since hindsight is easier than foresight, let me share some advice from hindsight.

First of all, stop being so nice to everybody. Seriously. You’re probably thinking “What kind of good advice it that?”… but believe me, if you don’t listen, you’ll be going to learn the hard way that you cannot please everybody ALL THE TIME or fix other people’s problems. You’d better toughen up and grow an attitude right now, before it’s too late. You want to learn rather sooner that later that sometimes they only way you can help others is by letting them figure out their problems on their own.

Also, get over your inhibitions and fears. They’re not healthy. You could do and experience so many things so much earlier, if you could just get over your fear of how that might change things.
I know you are afraid of change right now, but change can be positive, change can be good. Yes, really! It will be.

Start getting into the habit of not thinking about stuff over and over and over again. I know, you’re an over-analyzer, but let me tell you from experience: it’s not going to do you any good. It’s easier to sometimes just accept things and not try to make sense of every little detail – because often, there is no sense to be made.

My most important piece of advice for you is this: Stop living in the past and enjoy the moment.
Life is happening while you’re busy contemplating about what happened yesterday, last months, a year ago. Meanwhile, you don’t even notice that good things are happening right now!
I know it’s tough, but you really don’t want to spend your highschool years contemplating about elementary school or your college years thinking how much you miss highschool (especially since there’s probably nobody else around you who would like to go back to highschool ever again with you), so why don’t you simply enjoy the time being, for however long it might last? Be aware of the moment. Enjoy every chapter of your life to the fullest and let go of it when it’s over.

Finally, I would like to say this: You’ll be happy to know that you’ll stay that positive and compassionate person that you’ve already come to be. Don’t you ever question your own strength and abilities. Keep standing up for yourself. Don’t let other people try to change you. It’s good that you don’t care what other people think of your opinion. Stay true to your beliefs.
Even if you make mistakes that doesn’t mean that you failed completely as a person or that you failed others. Nobody’s perfect – not even you… ahm me! ;)

Love,
Your older YOU.