what i tell to myself if i'm 18th

I like to joke that I am who I am today because I did everything wrong in my 20’s. I’ve always been fearless, and it often got me in trouble. I wasn’t afraid to start a business, borrow a bunch of money, or quit a well-paying job to travel the world.

At the same time, the fact that I took chances (and often failed) gave me the wisdom that I have today. Lessons learned through failure tend to be much more meaningful than lessons learned otherwise.

Now that I’m in my 30’s, life is pretty good. While I haven’t learned it all, I feel my head is screwed on straight enough that life is much less stressful. I’ve come into my own and built the foundation for a secure and prosperous future.

Even though things are going well, I often imagine what it would be like to go back into the past and teach myself what I know now. I know enough to be certain that I lost most of my twenties to a struggle with debt and poor decisions. If I had done things differently, maybe I could have been where I am now at age 22.

Could you imagine? Self employed and almost financially independent at age 22? No… not almost. My expenses were much less back then… I would have been financially free!

I know, it doesn’t do any good to ask what if. If I had known it all at age 22, I probably would have been a little cocky. Doing things the hard way seasoned my character. I like who I am and I wouldn’t change a thing.

But what if…
What I’d Tell Myself at 18

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