Very often in the journey of life, we wish to receive some guidance. However, more often than not, we do not receive any. We are stuck and the only advice we get is through experiencing life’s numerous challenges. Very often we also wish to go back in time and correct the wrong that we did, in order to change the course of our lives. But, “Sigh, this feature currently unavailable”.
If only time travel was possible, I’d love to go back in time and leave my younger self, some life lessons. Call me crazy, but I’d love to be prepared, if this were to become a possibility in the future. Hence, I decided to write a letter to myself, my younger self, so that during the times She (aka Me), felt miserable in life, there’d be something for her (aka me again) to glance through and carry on. So here goes,
“Hey there,
Little naive version of me.
You probably are weaving big dreams right now. The world is full of opportunities for you and you cannot just wait to lay your hands on them. Keep dreaming. These dreams are what will keep you going. And at times when you don’t feel like going ahead, left, right or anywhere for that matter, below things are for you to ponder on.
Learn to Let Go:
There’ll be plenty of people you’ll meet. It’s a good thing to meet people.
Some of them shall stay in your life forever. Now these are people meant to be cherished. Adore these wonderful souls, because they chose to stay in your life.
But you will meet some other people as well. Temporary people. However, the life experiences they bring along are immense. But they’re temporary. Some of them, you’d want to remove from your life and some you wish never left. But they did and that’s alright. These temporary people would’ve made you tenfold stronger. So cherish them too.
At the end, we’re all here pursuing our individual journeys, so hate no one. Just let go.
Know that the worst things too, shall pass:
Things may go wrong sometimes. Quite frankly speaking, they do. The world may come shattering down, the ground beneath your feet may seem shaky. You may feel lost and hopeless. Everyone does feel so, at some part or the other during their lifetime. And this phase generally is what defines each one us and makes each one of us unique and different from the rest.
But remember this. Even when things come shattering down, it’s not time for you to give up. Of course we may lose all the strength we have, and it’s absolutely alright.
We’re human. We do lose our strength at times and it’s okay to feel so. It’s okay to cry. But, since we’re human we’re also blessed with a choice.
Choice to stay broken and the choice to get up and get going. YOU CHOOSE.
Because at the end of the day it’s no one but you, who’s got to pull yourself together. You’ve got to be the self-healer.
Alone time is good:
Do not be afraid to spend time alone. It’s okay, in fact consider it a blessing if you love to be by your own self at times. Solitude is Sabbath for the Soul. Take time off and do nothing sometimes. Your mind needs that recess period.
Click away to glory:
Take pictures, as many as possible (of you, your dog, your parents, your siblings, your family gatherings, your friends, your house, the neighborhood, the city, your college, your car., this list may take a while). Try not asking people to pose for you. Take candid pictures of your life’s happenings. You never know when a moment can turn into a memory.
Commit to Learn:
Learn a new thing every day. Let the light bulb at the back of your brain go “TING”. (TING is the sound that cartoon characters made when they got enlightened, or when an idea struck their brains). So learn more and strive to be make that brain go “TING” regularly. Learn. Explore. Discover. Remember, being learned never made anyone less cool. SMART is the new SEXY.
Gratitude makes life better:
Very often we overlook the wonderful things we’ve been blessed with and complain about the things we don’t have. If only each one of us was rigorously trained to practice more of gratitude, life would seem a lot simpler.
Write 5 things you’re grateful about at the end of each day. There’s definitely a lot more than 5 things you can be grateful about. However, listing 5 things to be grateful for or 5 good things that happened during the day, every day should do your life a huge favor.
Maintain that body:
Care for your body. Eat well and exercise. I know burning those calories in the gym and posting selfies is going to get trendy when you grow older. I’m not saying that’s bad. Do that. Get fit.
But a particular area most people would neglect is teeth. Care for those teeth. You’re going to be thankful to your own self when the dentist tells you there are no cavities in your teeth. Because drilling noises are scary. You’d very well want to avoid the dentist’s noisy, nasty little devilish drilling machine, drilling away to glory inside your mouth. Your teeth are your babies and you don’t want them to experience that horror.
Your marks on that paper don’t matter:
Do not regret not scoring on that paper. All those 15-20 mark answers you memorize in order to score in your exams are not going to matter in the years to come. None of your interviewers are going to ask you your certificates ever. However, this doesn’t serve to discourage you from studying for that test. But give it your best and relax.
Invest in the interests of your heart:
Pursue what you really want to do. If fashion is what interests you, get into fashion. Get into Sports. Be a writer. And if music is what gets your heart pumping, dive into it. You do not have to have the MBA or the Engineering degree just because your friends are headed that way. Years later you’ll be grateful for your choices.
You might be afraid of disappointing your parents. They may have been expecting something else out of you. It’s natural and okay to feel that way. However, it all comes down to that one moment of sheer courage. Three. Two. One and SAY IT. Just blurt it out. One moment of absolute courage could either make your life or have you wishing for the rest of your life that you’d gathered some courage to follow your dreams.
You deserve happiness:
You deserve to be happy. Let no one else make you believe otherwise. Of course there are ups and downs to life. But let no one else be in charge of your happiness. And also know that happiness is the highest level of success. You deserve to be happy. Period.
Practice Positivity:
Most people who’ve conquered milestones in life are the ones who maintain a positive and healthy approach towards life. The key is to appreciate the good, ignore the bad. It does sound easy. But it gets very difficult to practice it. But, amidst the chaos you should train your mind to look for the good, and in that, my dear younger self, lays the essence of life.
With Love,
Your Older Self.
(Rowena Prima Periera, the writer of this article is an accountant by profession working in Dubai.)
