25 things I wish I could tell my younger self

At 25 years old, I’m still very young and have a lot to learn. But gosh, if I’m at a quarter of a century and haven’t learned anything, I must be doing something wrong. Thank goodness I have learned some things and this is what I wish I could tell my younger self.

1. Love your parents.
Your parents only want what’s best for you. So even though what they might be telling you over and over again might get annoying, love them anyways because they are just showing you that they love you.

2. Break ups are not the end of the world.
This is a big one that I learned early on. Repeat with me. Break ups are not the end of the world. After a couple of “it’s the end of the worlddddd” break ups, with the help of my parents, I realized that I am a beautiful, driven, and amazing person who anyone would be lucky to have. With confidence like that, you know you can rule the world. I say with the help of my parents because growing up, they have always instilled confidence in me and raised me to believe that I was enough, and it’s true. Everyone is enough.

3. Distance yourself from people who are not really your friends/drop toxic friends.
This might have taken a little longer for me to learn, but I’m glad I finally learned it. There are people who clicks with you at the beginning but then their true colors show and it’s not who you want to be around. The people you hang around with can really affect you, so make sure you surround yourself with people who really matter. I’m glad that I have found an amazing and supportive group of friends who I know will always be there when I need them.

4. Your siblings will always be your best friend.
Ain’t this the truth! No matter what disgusting habit you have, or what you have done or said, your siblings have no choice but to love you.  So if you get into an argument, don’t hold grudges, let it go. In fact, most of the time, you don’t even have to apologize which makes it even easier! My sister and I will argue like crazy and then just go thru the day like nothing happened and we still love each other. My little brother and I used to get into fights when he was a little kid and he would go thru his temper tantrums, but he’s all grown up now, and we still love each other as well.

5. If you want something, ask. The worst anyone can say is no.
I LIVE by this saying. I used to be afraid to ask questions or ask for this or that. Then I realized, if I don’t ask, the answer will always be no. If I do ask, there’s a chance the answer would be yes. You never know. And getting no for an answer isn’t such a bad thing. It’s not like that person is going to yell at you for asking a question or asking for a favor.

6. You can’t make everyone like you.
I used to want everyone to like me. I was a people pleaser. Well, I still am, but to an extent. I used to let people who didn’t like me, get to me. I’d try harder to gain approval. But I’ve learned that not everyone is going to like me and it’s not my fault.  So stop using so much energy to get everyone to like you and instead focus that energy on the people who already like you.

7. Form real friendships.
In high school, everyone wanted to have a lot of friends. If you have the most friends then you’re the most popular, right? I mean, maybe, but does it really matter how popular you are? When you need help, does your popularity help you or do your real friends help you? Let me tell you the answer, it’s your real friends. So make sure you start forming some real friendship with a couple of people rather than trying to befriend the whole world.

8. A handful of good friends is better than a hundred ok friends.
This goes hand in hand with the previous point. As I grew older, I noticed that my group of friends got smaller and smaller. But that was ok because as it got smaller and smaller, it also got closer and closer.

 9. Don’t spend money recklessly.
I don’t mean not to get what you want, but before you get it, ask yourself, do you really need that item?

10. Travel often.
When I finally had the courage to ask my parents if I could travel by myself, my  main point was that I am young and have time. Many people wait till they have money to travel but by that time, they don’t have the time to travel. There’s this thing called life that gets in the way. Children, grown up job, mortgage, etc. So travel now, and do it often!

11. It’s ok to not be where you want to be yet as long as you get there.
Life happens. You went to college for something and then decided that’s actually not the path for you, so you built up the courage to tell your parents and you do a career change. Remember, life is not a race. In 10-20 years from now, people aren’t going to look at you and say hey look at this successful woman but it took her way longer to get to where she is now than it was supposed to. No. They’re going to look at you and say, wow, she’s successful and she’s doing what she loves.

12. Sometimes, you gotta put yourself first.
Being in my twenties, I know that these are my selfish years. It’s the best years to put yourself first sometimes. In a couple years, you’ll have kids (if you want them) and they’ll come first and you’ll regret not going on that trip with your friends.

13. Time passes by way too quick.
Time goes by so quickly! Stop wasting it! I remember when I was done with high school, I thought wow, that flew by so quickly! I thought, gee, four years of college but then that flew by as well! Before you know it, you’re going to be old and you’ll either realized you’ve done nothing that makes you happy or you’re happy. Be happy. Use your time wisely.

14. Be optimistic.
Every bad situation can be made better with optimism. Plain and simple. Plus, people don’t really like a pessimist.

15. Be yourself, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on yourself.
You hear this all the time, “Be yourself”. And it’s true, you should be yourself but you should be the best version of yourself. So if you aren’t the best version of who you could be, you should definitely work on that.

16. Help others, but not at the expense of yourself.
It’s always nice to help others. But if helping other people means that you’re constantly losing sleep, or not eating or anything that costs you mentally and/or physically, it’s time to say no.

17. People aren’t thinking about you as often as you think.
If you want to do something, do it! Even if you think it’s embarrassing. Trust me, people aren’t paying as much attention to you as you think. Sorry, but you’re not the center of the world and that’s a good thing. Do you. Don’t worry about what other people think.

18. Be confident in yourself.
Confidence is literally the most sexy thing a person can have. Although, there is such thing as too much confidence which then becomes cocky and no one likes a cocky person. But seriously, learn to have confidence in yourself. Don’t compare yourself with other people. You are you, and you are beautiful. As the words of Dr. Seuss, “Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”

19. It’s easier to make money than memories.
I live by this. Sometimes a little more than I should. But I’ve never regretted making memories and I know for sure I’d regret it if I choose to stay home and watch my friends all make memories together, without me. One day, we’re all going to be older and have kids and there won’t be time to travel together as often or go to festivals together. So do it now, making money can wait a couple years. (But that doesn’t mean don’t get a job lol).

20. Adulting is hard, stay young.
As children, we all want to grow up. If I could go back, I’d tell my 10 years old self to enjoy being a kid. Go outside and ride my bike, hang out with friends, do a skit. I’ll tell you right now, being an adult is not all that fun.

 21. Be open minded.
There are way too many people in the world judging other people for something that has nothing to do with them. Be open minded. Everyone’s life is different, everyone has different thinking and different ideas about perfection. By being open minded, you might learn something new about someone or something.

22. Learn to love yourself.
This is definitely a BIG one. You can’t truly love someone else until you’ve learned to love yourself first. This also goes hand in hand with having confidence in yourself.

23. Be kind.
You never know what the person next to you is really going thru. Be kind to everyone. Nothing bad can come from being kind.

24. Skip the high school relationships, they don’t matter.
If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be to ditch the high school relationship and focus on other things that matter. Grades, family, friends. Unless you’re one of the few who actually marry their high school sweethearts, there’s really no need to be in one. Sometimes you might learn a lesson or two from the relationship, IF you’re lucky. If not, you’ve basically just wasted your time. See what I learned from my past relationships here.

25. Eating one Oreo and being happy is better than eating a celery and being sad.
Life is short! Do what makes you happy. If you want that slice of cake, go for it! Just make sure you work it off later.

Catherine Le

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