Day #4 of 30

If you could give your younger self your best advice, what would you say?

While, I wouldn’t go back in time to change anything in this life because it may also change where I am today, that whole butterfly effect and all, if I had a new life in another time, I would say:

Save half of your money. I mean 50% of it. Even if your allowance is fifty cents per week like mine was as a child, save half of that, put it in your piggy bank and when the piggy bank is full, put that money in a bank account. When that bank account gets really fat, invest that money so it can continue to grow throughout your life. Now forget about that half. Use the other half of what you earn for what you want/need. If you start this young and stay with it, you’ll always have a growing stockpile of money as you get older, you will live comfortably within your means, and you will avoid unnecessary financial debt. Also, you’ll have one heck of a retirement and can travel the world, multiple times. Save 50%!

Don’t let the fear of embarrassment or failure stop you from doing the things that you feel in your heart you really want to do. Embarrassment lasts such a short time, but the wishing that you’d done something — for years thereafter — well, that’s sheer torture. Make that speech. Learn that dance. Ask that impossibly gorgeous girl/boy on a date! Whatever it is, just do it. Fear is the antidote for joy, squashing it like a bug. Someone once told me, “If you don’t take a chance, you won’t have one.” Very wise words. Take a chance! Just do it!!

You may as well make friends with your body and right now. Yeah, it may not be “perfect” like those anorexic supermodels, but it’s your body. It’s going to be with you your entire life. There are many things about your body that cannot be changed such as the shape of your feet and hands, the size of your skull, the color of your eyes (although you could wear colored contacts), along with many others. Learn to love and accept your body just as it is and see it for the vessel that it is — specially made for carrying your spirit around throughout this human experience. Make friends with your body!

If you can go to college right after high school for free, meaning via scholarship or your parents are willing to pay for it, go!! My parents offered to pay for me to go to college just before my high school graduation. I thought about it, but later told them, “I don’t even know what I would go to college for, so I don’t want to waste your money.” Mistake! If you don’t know what you want to do yet, go get some kind of basic degree which can be built upon later in life when you do make that decision. Go while you are young and your brain is used to learning on a daily basis. Go to college right out of high school!

Don’t argue with someone who compliments you in any way. The only acceptable response to a compliment is, “Thank you.” Don’t roll your eyes, or say things like, “Whatever” or “Yeah, right” or “I wish.” When you do that, you’re calling the person who complimented you a liar. They meant what they said and just because you don’t see it in yourself doesn’t mean that what they’ve said is false. Thanking someone for a compliment doesn’t mean you’re conceited, stuck up or have an inflated ego, not at all. It’s merely a common courtesy. Just say, “Thank you.”

Thank you for reading. Thank you my magical friend, Linda, for this question. Good night all.