2 minute read
To Be Young Again
All that aside, I found a picture of myself lately on a holiday in 1998 and the youth shone out of me, youth I will never again see unfortunately. If I could talk to that girl in 1998, I would have so much to say. Because that’s where we are all the same.
18 year olds today and 18 year olds in 1998 have the same doubts, the same insecurities, the same self-ridicule of their bodies or their appearance.
So, here’s what I’d say to the 18 year old me, here’s what I’d say to the 18 year old today:
· The pressure you feel to be perfect is pressure you put on yourself. Everyone around you already thinks you are perfect, just the way you are.
· Be true to yourself. Give your time and effort to what interests you, what lights you up. Don’t pretend to be interested in boring stuff just to fit in with the crowd. The things that you love will be your talent someday so stop hiding it.
· Surround yourself with people
who up-lift you, people who nourish you. Stop wasting your time trying to please people who can’t see your worth.
· Stop taking things personallysometimes other people are just awful- it has nothing to do with you. You can’t change them.
All this advice is only present as we age, when we no longer need it. If we had the awareness of middle age in our youth we might enjoy it more but as the saying goes- life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards.
