What would you have told your younger self?

bargainbetty

I'd tell me that:

My mum is usually right
My Dad wouldn't be here forever
The expensive is not always the best
Some men really aren't worth crying over
Good friends are worth diamonds and should be kept just as carefully
Jobs will come and go - your feet aren't nailed to the floor and if you don't like it, find something else. Do it before you leave the old job though.
Pay your bills - that money isn't yours to start with.
If someone thinks they can control you, only you can make them right.

Bill Hicks said life is just a ride. You can decide to get off it, but you can't control anything else. It's just a ride.

loulou123

Mine are

Get braces as a teenager - if you dont your end up wearing them at 26 and needing reconstructive surgery on your jaw too!

Dont go "off the rails" as a teenager (when my grandad died - most important person in my life) and find comfort in alcohol, cigarettes and men - continue to work hard and make him proud of you instead

It'll take a few years, but things will get better after they all fall apart, you will conquer your anxiety and depression and one day you will be married and very happy.

Dont spend money on a credit card as "you have a well paid job, and can easily pay it back" the job may not last.

Against the odds and what everyone tells you, your boyfriend at 17 will go on to be your husband.

Travel as much as possible when your young - it wont be so easy when you are a grown up!

I_wanna_live_for_free

GO to college to do that catering course you wanted to do but allowed your parents to talk you out of
Take driving lessons even though it means meeting up with your boyfriend an hour or two later than he would like.
Don't pay for your wedding on credit cards and then get a loan to pay it off then spend the credit cards up to the max again
Don't always do as other people say. They've their best interests at heart, not yours.

Mayflower10cat

I wish I'd realised that in my late teens/early twenties, I was probably at my most attractive at the time when, inside, I was at my most insecure!!!

And, the pretty, glamorous facile girls whose friendship seemed so, so desirable, actually wasn't. And my few 'real' friends, (all funny, kind, slightly swotty, loyal and well adjusted) are still with me now, 35 years later.

axomoxia

I forgot a couple.

1. Don't look to your mother for career advice. Your instincts were correct.
2. Don't panic. Most people will survive a recession without ending up on the streets.
3. A lifetime of abstaining from sugary drinks will not prevent Type 1 diabetes <shakes fist at pancreas>

Kaz2904

I'd tell myself; it will be fine. Eating beans on toast for several days and having no hot water or heating every month for 2 weeks won't kill you. You're skint because you're young and starting out.
I may perhaps tell my friend and I to buy a flat instead of renting one, we would have been well set for the future as prices skyrocketed in the couple of years after and when we met our husbands, we couldn't afford to buy so well.

Don't always listen to the more experienced staff and do something because they walk away, make them do it. It was their advice and their decision but you take the flack.
You will be very good at your job. Don't even get started on thinking about applying for the promotion because the morning you have to hand in your application, you will be pulled aside and told that the job doesn't exist anymore. Just accept that you will be doing that job for 8 years without getting up to that pay level.

jtr2803

If I could go back 14 years (to when I was 16) I would just tell myself that I would make choices that would hurt, do things that were a bit silly and I'd blush over naughty things I'd done..............but that it all worked out ok in the end and I am the person I am now because of those experiences.

Seriously, I don't give any thought to the past, it's the past, can't change it, I just learn from it, laugh at it and move on with my life!

Edited to add:

I would, however, tell myself....Impossible is not a real word, it's just an abbreviation for I'm possible.

Enchantica

I would tell myself:

The phrase "boyfriends come and go but friends will always be there" is totally incorrect. It should be "boyfriends and friends come and go but FAMILY is always there". Family is so important. Don't take them for granted. They are your only real supporters (and your husband. Yes you got a husband!!!)

High school doesn't matter! Tell those bullies to shove it and don't let people push you around (possibly need to tell 'present' me that at times!)

One day you will have a good job, nice flat and a wonderful husband.

Your husband is completely different to what you thought you wanted. He's so much better.

Don't think about killing yourself because of those bullies. You have so much ahead. And you will have a wonderful niece who you adore!

You marry an allergy sufferer. But you make it work. You can only keep one kind of pet though. (that would freak younger me out because I'm an avid animal lover!)

Do that university semester in the US. Don't choose the relationship. It doesn't work out anyway.

mgdavid

nothing to tell myself - I wouldn't want to change a single thing
:-)

WelshWoofer

To my younger self....

Just because you can sleep with someone it doesn't mean you should - it won't make you feel better about yourself
Keep in touch with your friends - men will come and go (literally!) but friends and family will stay with you if you treat them well
Go and live on the other side of the world on your own - it does work out ok!
Don't marry someone just because they ask and you think you're getting on a bit
Divorce is not the end of the world - in fact life begins at 40!
Get a dog - unswervingly loyal and you always have company
Be happy yourself before you try to make someone else happy
You are not the centre of everyone's universe!
Stick to being a veggie

And things that went right....
Buy a house as soon as you can (you will be 28!)
Changing career in your mid thirties is ok - you will be good at two things
You will be happy, single and aging disgracefully!