Dear Eighteen-Year-Old Me,
I know dreams of college and those two, insanely, glorious words, “no curfew” are clouding your head, but I want to share a bit of advice. I promise to be short because I know your attention span is well, short. So, please turn down Alanis Morissette, and listen.
Hop on planes to far away places. Travel opportunities will come your way. Take advantage of them. The adventures you experience and the people you meet will be worth every minute of serving greasy meals to the bar crowd and cleaning nasty hotel rooms. Promise.
Treasure your family, and savor their stories. Sure, your family seems a tad crazy, and believe me, time will not change this fact, but they are you and you them, and there is nothing like the love of family. Plus, eventually your little sisters will grow up, and then the three of you can share stories, and it will be wildly amusing.
Let go of being the best. Someone will always be smarter, prettier, and more talented than you. Get over it. Don't waste your time playing the comparison game. Be you because you are perfect.
Let go of being the best. Someone will always be smarter, prettier, and more talented than you. Get over it. Don't waste your time playing the comparison game. Be you because you are perfect.
Share your time wisely. You may think yourself different than those who surround you, but their ways will become yours. Be intentional with your relationships. You never regain missed minutes.
Learn to learn and love to learn. When choosing college classes, take things that interest you like Astronomy, the History of Rock and Roll, and City at Night. Forget about course credit and GPAs.
Give God a chance. Yes, the church is full of hypocrites, but don’t let people and religion taint your view of God. God is more than TV evangelists and bumper stickers.
Go easy on the kid in the tux. I know your prom date, that Sullivan kid, works your nerves, but something tells me your paths may cross again. So, during your senior year of college, maybe you could accept his phone call.
*The idea for this letter to my eighteen-year-old self came from here.
What about you, friends? What advice would you give eighteen-year-old you?
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Linking with friends through the Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood.
27 comments:
The biggest piece of advice I would give an 18 year old me would be to trust God to choose your marriage companion for you instead of trying to make it happen yourself. I would also say to place a higher value on the character of a man than his physique.
No way -- you went to prom with your future husband and didn't reconnect with him until the end of college? Crazy story!
So glad you shared!
Love this.
And isn't it crazy how God brings things around full circle (or people?!?)
Am I at all responsible for the hair and makeup? I can't remember, but I do remember that dress :) Look at how young you both look! Wonderful words of wisdom in your letter. I love the bit about family. And, once again, I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for bringing you two together. I just can't help myself. You are a perfect match. Love you :)
How cool that you went to prom with your future husband! What a story. I would tell myself to have more fun, make more girlfriends, and worry less about boys. I was always missing things because I was out with boyfriend of the month and now I wish I had cultivated more girlfriends and spent more time with them, because boyfriends of the month were just that...of the month. Although at the time I thought each was "the one".
first, i have to say that i LOVED the advice to yourself about the kid in the tux! made me grin! and, advice to myself? ease up on trying to make everyone around you happy. not. your. job.
i LOVE this! you should take it one step further and think into the future and see what you'd write to your 36, i mean 29 year old self. that would be cool too!
oh and this picture makes shows why you earned that Prom Queen crown- you're so pretty!!! (i don't know about that one piece of advice about others being prettier.....you're hard to beat!). and shane!!! oh my goodness- can't wait to show steve! love it!!
oh and i forgot the homework assignment.....
the one thing i'd tell my 18 year old self-
stick w/being the nerdy, boyfriendless, God lover you are. you don't fit in now, but making worldly choices makes you not fit in w/God. and that's not good :)
Too funny! I love it...I may try this. I have lots of advice lol :)
Oh! How I miss my 18-year-old me. I would say...
Be yourself!
Have confident!
You can do it!
Don't be intimidated by others' success story!
Thanks Amy for this interesting piece. Love the pic. Both of you look great!
How gorgeous you were in that red dress!
Oh My! I would give that 18 year old girl lots of advice now! Mainly to step out of her shell and focus on others instead of hiding behind her insecurities and being so quiet and shy, feeling she didn't know how to speak, to trust the Lord with ALL her heart. She wasted so much time! I could go on and on with the advice, but I'll quit here :)
Great Post! And thank you again for sharing mine with your readers last week, so sweet of you!
Loved reading this, Amy! So many things I could tell the 18 year-old me, but she probably wouldn't listen - she's stubborn and thinks she's knows everything! Nineteen years later, she's dumber, but happier than ever.
Dear 18 yr.old me,
There's more to life than the first guy you've dated. Go with your gut. If he doesn't seem trustworthy, he probably isn't.
Make sure you put oil in your 1972 Ford Mustang. Take really good care of it, someday, someone will want to give you A LOT of money for it.
Do the next right thing. Don't get so worked up about what God's will is for your life in the future. Do what God's will in your life is to do NOW. Even if it's something simple, like take a different way home from work.
Go to college.
Eat right and exercise everyday. It will be a lot easier to shed 4 pounds than 40.
Talk to your dad more often, you never know when a person might die...
Journey to Epiphany,
So much of your advice absolutely applies to me too. The bit about the mustang though...that has me curious! Seriously, this comment could be a post.
This is chock-full of gems, Amy. Great advice for an 18-year-old ... or a 39-year-old ... or an 82-year-old! (Especially the third one!)
I love this, Amy! Such beautiful advice. Two and three really jumped out at me. I would tell myself those things as well.
Have a great week,
Mel
I loved reading this! I found myself saying,"been there. learned that. Yup." Those were great pieces of advice. I'll have to think about that one for myself.
Great photo...you look stunning!
LOVED this, Amy! I'm going to have to steal the idea and write a post myself :)
love the pic!
to me,
get a life? expand your horizons? and for pete's sake, DO something with your hair?????
seriously, hindsight. . . if only we could live more by it. instead, i try to benefit by others', know what i mean? my 18-year-old self needed a lot of encouragement and confidence-boosting to know that she was loved by God and that He had an amazing plan for her life. and satan still tries to pass those same lies by me when i'm tired and feel like giving up. but maturity and a bit more wisdom make it easier now to recognize those lies and claim the victory that Christ has given me.
i'm so glad i'm not 18 anymore :-)
steph
Esther,
Steal away! This was not my idea...I linked the guy who inspired me to do my own letter. His is a little more serious, but still good.
Steph,
Hair? Ugh. I wish I could give myself advice on hair, but sadly, I've learned nothing in that department!
Loved this, Amy. My advice to me? Stop being so afraid. Believe that when God says, "Fear not," He means it.
I can't say what I would say to a younger self, because I can't see where my future is gonna lead yet. Except maybe, every minute of your college education will be worth it!
I have an 18 year old. My youngest. My advice to her would be what I wish someone had told me -- Be your authentic self. So enjoyed your list. I was nodding my head with each one.
Hope you day is full of blessings.
Pamela
I would have liked to have told me to respect myself more. That is the only way a boy is going to respect you. I used to wonder why I was always getting involved with boys who were dating around or had a girlfriend. I was always trying to be their number 1, but I should have realized that I was number 1 and that I was too good for the guys I was going after. Respect yourself and both men and women will respect you.
My favorite part was letting go of being the best...there is always someone smarter, prettier (although not sure about that in your case, gorgeous!), etc. So true and man could I have used someone telling me that long ago.
Of course the part about the kid in the tux in priceless.
Love you!
I agree 100% with Gaby! I love this post! Thank you!
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