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Seven More Things I’d Tell My Younger Self
3 min readApr 22, 2023
- Feel Your Feelings
When I was younger, I often received messaging that I was not allowed to feel a certain way about certain things. Sometimes I would be shamed by the adults around me into presenting more happily than I felt. I think what would’ve helped would have been someone saying: “Hey, there’s a lot of things that seem overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, and it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and anxious when thinking about them. It’s not shameful to have feelings about these things. You’re allowed to. Don’t push the emotions down. They will only come back up. Feel them as they occur to actually process them.” - Take walks. Go into nature.
When I was younger, I lived in New Hampshire. Everyday was an opportunity to hang with the trees and birds and squirrels, and unfortunately, most days I didn’t take that opportunity. If I had to do it again, I’d learn more about the environment in NH. I would’ve engaged more, found more grounding, and enjoyed sitting in the grass and watching the squirrels hop from tree to tree. - Eat healthier.
My body and mental health would have benefitted from eating more fruits, veggies, and greens, and less sugar. The thing about your body is that how you treat it in the present impacts how it feels and functions in the future. I wish I would have been more mindful of that as a teenager and early adult.
