If I could have a conversation with my younger SELF

I think all of us have SOMETHING we wish we could travel back in time and tell our teenage self.

Don’t perm your hair to within an inch of its life.
Reconsider that getting skunk drunk at 16… .

And then there are the bigger things…the decisions that arguably changed the course of our lives forevermore.

Think twice before falling in love with the boy with the temper. What starts as smoke almost always results in fire.
Appreciate the people in your life while you still have them. Love is eternal…but life itself is brief.

As for me, I can never really decide what I would do if handed the keys to a time machine and told I could travel to any point in the past to change what happened…or any point in the future to see how it all turns out. If a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can cause a hurricane in another part of the world…do I really want to take the chance of telling the Younger Me something that might alter even one teeny, tiny thing along the way? Didn’t every bit of it – the smiles, the tears, the laughs, the fears, the hurts, the pains, the sunshine, the rain - create the person I am today?
I recently posed this question to my friends: “If you could travel back in time, what is the ONE piece of advice you would give your teenage self?” And the answers I might get maybe so heartfelt, so vulnerable, so authentic….

If given the chance, I WOULD sit down for a conversation with my teenage self. And after sharing a few giggles with her about the fact that while we once thought we’d be married with kids at age 25, we’re 26 and single…I’d tell her this…

“Remember that the way you see yourself is not always how the world sees you. All the little insecurities and flaws and imperfections you think are so obvious to everyone else aren’t nearly as visible as you think they are. You only get one shot at this thing. Be bold and confident. The people who snub you and intimidate you NOW won’t be able to hold a candle to you later! So take chances, take leaps of faith, bet on yourself, kiss the boy, go out on more limbs. Even if things go horribly awry, at least you’ll be left with a fabulous memory instead of a painful regret.”
Then I’d give her a great big hug, and tell her to throw down her expectations, throw up her hands, & enjoy the ride. Because it’s not going to turn out the way she thought it would...
It’s going to turn out better.