Yesterday Ashley Gibson wrote a post that asked the question, what would she go back and tell her 8 year old self. I liked it. A lot. And in the comments I told her that she should be prepared for people (like me) to do something similar in the very near future. So here I am.
There’s no real order of importance here. And the longer I look at the screen, the more lessons I’m sure I could think of.
So without any more ado, here are some of the things that, if I could, I would go back and tell my 8 year old self.
• Play as much baseball as you can for as long as you can. Some of your happiest and clearest moments will come between the white lines, no matter what is going on in the rest of your life.
• People make mistakes. And that’s okay because you will too. The important thing is to forgive people and let them move on with their lives. That includes you.
• When you grow up you’ll still wonder what you want to be when you grow up. For a long time. And even after you think you’ve figured it out, things will change. And you will change.
• You love people. And that’s awesome because you’re going to keep loving people and making friends in every city that you live in over the years. This makes you lucky. Remember that and remember them.
• Don’t be afraid to sing. Some day people are actually going to tell you that you’re pretty good at it.
• Things aren’t always perfect, there’s nothing you can do about it. Just keep doing what you can and let them play out. Sometimes that’s all you can do and all anyone needs you to do.
• Trust people. Some big things will happen that you might not want to talk about or feel like you can’t. But there will always be people that care about you and are there for you when you have that feeling in your chest that just won’t go away.
• Broken hearts heal. Don’t give up on love. Don’t be afraid to love. And remember that love comes in many forms and you need to embrace that if you want to live a full and happy life.
• Money isn’t everything, so when you don’t have very much, kind of like now with your allowance, it’s okay. You don’t have to panic and lose your mind. You just need to keep your head above water and keep moving forward.
• Right now you’ve got 1 mom and 1 dad and 1 brother who love you and that you love. But when you grow up you’re going to have 2 moms and 2 dads and 4 brothers and 2 sisters that make up 1 big, crazy, extended, awesome family. This makes you lucky too.
In the end I don’t think I’d want to tell 8 year old me anything that would ruin the surprises that life has coming. No spoilers if you will. That’s the magic of the life that I’ve lived, a lot of the time I really don’t know what’s going to happen next – and when the next thing does happen, I get to experience everything that comes with it.
Now I’ll ask the same question that Ashley did: What would you tell your 8 year old self?
Be awesome!
