5 Things I Would Tell Myself

Roni posted a question on her blog that she was revisiting from years ago. The question was "What 5 things would you tell yourself if you could go back in time?" She chose to go back to her 1991 self (when she was 15 years old), and she told herself these 5 things:

What do I tell myself?

• Stop being so preoccupied with your body. You are young, fit, active and beautiful (that was really hard for me to type) Love who YOU are and stop comparing yourself to others, it’s not worth it, life is too short.
• Wear clothes that FIT YOU!! I know you don’t believe it but baggy is not better and it makes you look much bigger then you are.
• Stick to the salads at McDonald’s! (I worked at MickeyD’s for 5 years and ate WAY to many quarter pounders on my lunch breaks)
• HAVE FUN! Life is too short to miss out on things because you are worried what you look like. Throw that bathing suit on, get in the ocean and SWIM! Enjoy it now before you are running after a 2 year old on the beach
• Don’t wait until your junior year of college to take a computer class. Get into it early, you have a knack and one day you’ll make a career out of making web sites. Oh! you don’t know what a web site is, don’t worry you will soon enough. :~

And she later added this one:

• Your body is capable of AMAZING things. One day you will have children and realize this. In the mean time treat it and yourself with kindness. Embrace who you are and don’t be ashamed of ANYTHING. Confidence is a hard thing to master. Start now.

She also asked her readers to answer the question for themselves. In thinking about this, I decided I wouldn't go back to my high school self. For one, High School Me was too young to listen--too much a teenager. Also, I was feeling pretty good in high school. My body had grown up into a beautiful young lady, and I knew it. A lot of the time in high school, I was "feelin' my freedom," as John Prine would say. 

In college though, I could have used some good advice. I was also "feelin' my freedom" then, but it was more in the glamor of cases of Natty Light with friends, and the freedom of spending all of your financial aid on trips to Applebee's and the Texas Roadhouse. It was the apathy of having things like 2 chili cheese dogs with a side of cheese and chili-covered fries for dinner, drinking all night, then trying to think in class the next morning.

My major in college was Environmental Protection, and it was filled with people who went hiking, canoeing, and rock climbing on the weekends. Instead of feeling like I could do those things too, I was the fat girl who could barely make it back up the mountain on our class arboretum trip. 

So anyway, if I could go back to my 1998 self--when I was 20 years old--I would tell myself the following 5 things:

1. Start doing something by yourself every day--something that is fun and for your own health. Make it a habit. You will LOVE it. Bryan will understand.
2.  Treat every day like the amazing gift from God that it is. Listen to Morning has Broken and Dare You to Move (when it comes out in 2 years), and live by these. 
3. Learn about calories in vs. calories out. Every cookie/beer/late night meal from Hardees does count. There are no freebies.
4. Re-take that Analytical Chemistry class. There was no need for you to ditch the final exam and fail the class. You will regret it if you don't. 
5. Sara will be okay. Stick with her as best you can through her hard times. It will all turn out alright, but she needs your help.