A Letter to My 21 Year Old Self...

 

I am linking up HERE for Jake & Holly's Letter to your 21 year old self... this post could take days, become a novel so I will try and keep it short and sweet...

 

Dear 21 year old Blake,

 

I am a lot older and wiser now at the old age of 32 haha but I look back at my 21 year old self with shock, horror, humour, laughter, fear and nostalgia. I will say you will be much happier and content in your 30's. 21 wasn't the best year for you and guess what, it is ALL going to be ok...

 

Don't worry about getting fired from 2 jobs in a year (long story) it lead you to the job you have been at for 10 years and love it!

 

Don't ever lose touch with your friends they will continue to be with you thru the best and worst times even after all of these years. Girlfriends are AMAZING! Keep the old and continue making new ones, they keep life going.

 

Don't rush so much to be an adult, it comes with a lot of responsibility and grown up things are not always that much fun!

 

Don't be SO hard on yourself, you are a good person and you have a lot to offer, you are your hardest critic!

 

DO stay in school longer and get your teaching degree. You will thank me when you have 3 beautiful children and want to spend the summers with them!

 

DO Love your family! Life is too short to hold on to resentments and anger, a lot of missed opportunities for just loving each other. They will always be there and you can always count on them!

 

DO know that you and Tex are going to go thru a lot these next 10 years. Jobs, Job Losses, Moves, Financial worries, Children, Family Crisis. There are days when you think you wont be able to make it and you DO! You always DO!

 

DO stuff for yourself...DON'T ever say your are bored when laying out by the pool or my 32 year old self will comer over there and smack you silly :)
DO stay at home and watch an entire tv series on one rainy day, you will NEVER get that chance again.

DO try and take care of yourself you will feel so much better about yourself when you do!

DON'T keep wearing those ratty t-shirts and oversized sweatshirts. Splurge and start buying some cuter clothes!

 

DO what makes you HAPPY, DON'T worry so much about what everyone else thinks, it consumes way too much of your time and thoughts. Really, you will find out you are not that important and people are not thinking about you in any way constantly like you feel they are.

 

Stop over analyzing everything and regretting things from the past. Like I said the next 10 years are going to be a lot of peaks and valleys, buckle in, it gets real... but guess what, don't change much about it because it brings you to a place of experience, it provides you with empathy, it heals holes in your heart you didn't even know you had, it mends wounds and relationships that you thought were never going to happen, it shows you that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, it provides joy you never knew existed, it brings you to your knees, it makes you stronger, it makes you wiser, it makes you love more, it all makes you who you are today... and guess what, you kind of like that person you see in the mirror today, she doesn't seem so bad after all!

 

Love,

 Your much happier 30 something self!