what would you say to your younger self?

After a few shots of sake, my friend and I came to a conversation on age.

She says, "I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror yesterday and it finally hit me. I'm almost thirty. I always used to look at myself in the mirror and just see ME...but yesterday I saw myself as an older version of me. It's weird coz it's never happened before..."

I don't know if it was the sake bombs we were drinking or what...but it got me thinking of my own life and how I see myself. Though I still have five more years 'til I'm thirty, I just started thinking if I were at a point in my life wherein my younger self would be proud of me.

I visited the website www.letterstomyyoungerself.com and it's mostly women (celebrities, writers, singers, politicians, artists, and ordinary women) wanting to tell their younger self something they know NOW. It got me thinking on what I want to tell the younger me...hmm..

If only I felt a little older...

I still feel like a kid sometimes. And when I look in the mirror I still see the same person I've been looking at for the past twenty-five years of my life. I don't see the gray hair, I don't see the wrinkles, I don't see past the glimmer of worry in my eyes...i just see ME...

oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up look at the mirror and see me as a 25-year old...today i can dream about still being 21 and not having to pay rent and receive allowance from mom.

Haha.

But i do remember my younger self saying, "I'll probably be working in some glamorous corporate world, married and getting ready to have kids when i'm around 25 to 27"...mmm...RIGHHHTTTT *sarcasm*.

I'll tell my younger self to - not rush into situations and that getting married early is not a prerequisite to have an amazingly fabulous life. And I'll tell the younger me, that kids are life altering little things...they're disguised as little cute baggages, but indeed they are baggages that can only be carried when you're ready. And you'll know when you're not ready when it's staring at you in the face. I'd say "take your time"...and that your first boyfriend is not gonna be your last...and that who you thought was gonna be your last boyfriend is still not gonna be THE last. Haha. And that just "expect the unexpected" and sometimes things just fall into place when you didn't even know that things were NOT in place. Never rule out bars when meeting an amazing person, because sometimes fate just steps in at the weirdest of places...like a dive bar in West Hollywood...and that sometimes, you have to be a good Samaritan and go out on a limb to reap life altering rewards (like helping strangers with their flat tires).

(Note: Check out the book If I'd Known Then by Ellyn Spragins..it's supposed to be inspirational...or NOT...it may make you realize that some of these women accomplished a LOT in their early twenties. So it could either make you feel inspired, or just make you feel like shit cause you're thirty and still have not accomplished what you've set out to accomplish. Ugh.)