What I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

So I wouldn’t have had to learn all of this the hard way

Photo by Zach Lezniewicz on Unsplash

Wouldn’t it be great if we were all born with a wealth of life experience that we could tap into in any situation and at any given time?

But then again — I wouldn’t be the person I am today if my life hadn’t been a constant emotional roller coaster of ups and downs and occasional plateaus, a never-ending chain of trial and error, and a wild potpourri of challenging times morphing into mental health catastrophes.

I am who I am — because I was who I was — and I did what I did.

Nevertheless, I sometimes secretly wish that I didn’t have to figure so many things out entirely by myself. How I wish that I would have had a kind mentor who could have cushioned the many traumatic blows my parents (and especially my mother) unleashed on my mental health. Some gentle soul helping me to mitigate the adverse effects their parenting had on me.

Sadly, I didn’t have a mentor.

I am learning to love myself the way I am, and I think I am on a good path. It has been a long and rocky road though and much of what I experienced would have been more manageable if only there had been someone teaching me some basic and fundamental truths.