6 Pieces of Advice for My Younger Self
I’m no old sage but I lived enough to know what is good or not for myself.
Some teachings just come later in life and I wish I knew them sooner. Would have avoided so much damage and disappointment.
Anyway, until I know how to time travel, I guess you can take this advice yourself.
Protect your mental health
It all starts in your head. Your mental health is far more important than your career, money, other’s opinions, your partner’s mood, and your family’s wishes altogether.
You should learn how to spot when something or someone is jeopardizing your mental health.
If taking care of yourself means letting someone down, then let them down.
Know your values
All things physical in life can come to an end. A person, a place, a company, a project, none of them are worth attaching.
Instead, attach yourself to a mission, a future, and a set of values.
This is the best way to follow your heart, avoid getting attached to something that just doesn’t suit you, and establish the most meaningful relationships you’ll ever have.
Don’t overthink your problems
More often than not, the problems reside in your head.
Your thoughts alone are powerful enough to exponentiate the harm caused by reality, what actually happens, and the outcome.
The problem isn’t the problem. The way you think about the problem is.
If you want to feed a problem, overthink it. If you want to starve a problem, take action.
Accept your vulnerability
Being vulnerable is what allows you to be intimate. If you can’t be intimate then you won’t be able to feel the love people want to share with you.
Avoiding vulnerability might feel like self-defense but, in the long term, it’s self-harm.
If your past makes you avoid vulnerability, you’ll never have intimacy. Accept it and move on.
Forget comparisons
No one is as successful as Social Media makes them look or as stunning as filters make them seem.
Social Media is just a highlight reel of people's lives. The backstage is just as ugly as yours — if not worse.
The only healthy and worthwhile comparison you can make is between your current and former self.
Focus on that and you’ll see real progress.
Listen with your eyes
Words are a powerful communication tool. However, words should always match the actions of the one who spoke them. Otherwise, they’re not trustworthy.
Words will tell you what the other person wants you to think.
Actions will tell you what the other person actually thinks.
Inspired by a fellow creator, I decided to challenge myself to publish 100 short-form articles within January. This is article number 35.
