Dear Younger Me

Dear Younger Me,

      How do I start this? Where do I begin?  To be honest I am sort of drawing a blank. There is so much I want to say to you. So many things I want you to realize before you become Dear older me. I don't want this letter to be filled with tacky cliches, but I have a feeling you will find at least a few written among  these lines.

To start, I have to say sleep is a beautiful thing.  I may just be saying that due to the lack of it I got last night, but it is still very important.  I know how tempted you are to stay up late. To hang with your friends until the wee hours of the morning, but trust me your older self will thank you so much for the sleep you get now.

 Also, no matter how good your "genes" are you still need to take care of your skin.  I don't expect you to slather sun screen every time you walk out the door, but you will see the importance of it the closer you get to 40. Take care of what you put into your body and how you treat it. Just don't be to much of a stickler, a cupcake or three every now and then won't kill you and don't feel guilty if you don't eat healthy everyday, some days are just made for junk food. Try to find time each week to get some form of exercise, just walking in place while watching television means at least your moving.    What I am trying to say is remember that your body is a temple of God and treat it as you think he wants you to.

There will be enough things to make you cry so find something everyday to laugh at. I mean a good old fashioned belly chuckle. The kind that makes you cry tears of joy. Laughter really is the best medicine.

Remember to surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. Not every group of people that you know will be right for you.  You will know when you have to let someone go. It will be that obvious. Some people are just toxic to whom ever they are with and you need to put distance  between them and you.  Strive to find the people that make you happy, stronger and give encouragement. Life is to short to waste on stupid people!


Try to understand that giving up doesn't necessarily mean giving in.  There will be times that you have to let go of a dream or idea. Doing that doesn't mean defeat, it just means that you are grown enough to accept the truth.

I hope that you always work hard and don't be lazy, people don't like lazy bums, unless their liberal.
Never be a liberal!! I know that in the world you will feel the pull to leave your Conservative roots and embrace liberalism, please don't.  Always remember that the freedoms we have are bought and paid for with the blood and lives of patriots and they didn't fight for liberalism.

Stay close to your family.  Remember Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. (You knew at least one Disney idea would be in this and I totally wrote that in my Stitch voice).

Save!!! I can not stress it enough! I am not saying never spend any money, but make a point to save some. It doesn't have to be much, $10 a week starting off is still a start. You can always increase that amount later on.

After telling you to save now I come to the good part. Live! Travel! See the world! There are so many ways to travel on a budget and still travel nice.  Also make sure that you do a lot of travelling before kids. That way you can experience all of your destination without having to worry about keeping a little human occupied. They can be pretty testy sometimes.

I just have two more pieces of advice to impart:

Show Jesus to the world. No matter what may be going on today and in the future people still need to see the love of Jesus.  It is easy to do. Be kind, show compassion, it will make a difference.  I recommend doing three acts of kindness every month. One for family, one for a friend and one for a stranger.  You never know how much one simple little act of kindness can make a huge difference for someones day, week, or even life.

Finally and most important, always seek God's will for your life. There may be plans that you have that are not what he wants for you.  Put him first in your life and you will never go wrong.

Enjoy life!!!!  Go out and grab it by the horns or the tail or whatever you can get a hold of. Don't sit and wait for life to find you, because it will and then it will pass you by.  Don't be the woman who wakes up on her 40th birthday and wonders what she did with her life. Be the woman who can wake up and say look what I have done with my life. Make everyday count and live it to its fullest potential.

It has been rumored that Albert Einstein once said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Be that person who sees everything, no matter how big or small, as a miracle. 

I know there is something important or really philosophical I forgot to say and it will come to me later, but until then just take this advice, go forth and conquer the world. 

*As I was writing this letter I realized that I was in fact writing to two dear younger me's. I have two daughters who will one day be grown and out of the nest. I can only hope that I have prepared them for life as best as I could.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoO0kyPRu3M

"That's my 'two-cents worth', what's yours?"