Have you ever run across something you wrote years before?
Did you still agree with what you wrote, or did it make you wonder what you were thinking?
Giving advice to your past and future self can be tricky! Having an ageless spirit is all about deepening the relationship you have with yourself. It’s a constant unfolding of your true self and your soul’s desire. Growing and changing is part of the process when you’re creating an ageless lifestyle after 50.
I answered a question on LinkedIn in 2009 and just ran across my response today. The question was, “What advice would I give my younger self if I could send myself a note?”
I thought I’d share what I wrote 5 years ago and take a look at whether I’ve changed my mind at all or have anything to add at this point.
When I originally answered the question it made me think about when I was just starting out in the real estate business, from 22-24.
Here’s the advice I would give myself if I could send a note back. Although I’m not sure if I would have listened…
1. Don’t judge yourself so harshly. Be kind and loving to yourself.
2. You make decisions based on the information you have at the time. Don’t second guess yourself later. Let it go.
3. Go with the flow, things have a way of working out better than you can imagine when you relax and let go of control.
4. As much as you think you are grown up and mature and know everything, you don’t. Quantum leaps in knowledge and self-awareness come with each decade.
5. Don’t worry about getting older, it just gets better.
6. Let go of concerns with looking silly or not doing something well. Play full out and have fun, no matter who’s watching or what you look like doing it.
7. Love openly and fully. It’s the only way that feels good and the only way that will bring you joy.
Now, 5 years later, there have been so many changes in my life that I had no idea could or would happen. I have experienced more shifts and changes, and experienced more loss in my life in the last 5 years than many experience in a lifetime. My world was turned upside down, and in many ways, it’s still shaking itself out.
When I look at this list, it’s all still true for me. In fact I now realize that having gotten to the place where I embraced those points played a major part in being able to survive the last 5 years in the positive way I have. That’s not to say I haven’t had some time of whining or grieving for the parts of my life that are gone. But, and this is a big BUT…
Fully embracing the advice I would have given to my younger self, the lessons I’ve learned with age, has been the biggest gift in starting a new life and a new path and making new friends.
And now that I’ve started working again and creating a new vision for my business, I find this incarnation of how to express my passion isn’t that far from the work I was doing for the previous decade. The best part is now it includes something that is a big passion of mine, health and wellness.
Five years later I find I am more fully embracing my passion and the lessons I’ve learned and am now ready to share all of it with you on a deeper level.
I’m far from perfect and #6 is the lesson I still have a ways to go with before I can check it off my list.
I’d like to thank my 2009 self, who was centered and clear enough to give me this advice. And I have to question, who was she really giving advice to? My younger self as I thought at the time, or the me that was yet to come, not realizing how much I would need to live these lessons.
What would your advice be for your younger or future self?
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