what would you tell yourself?

[Natasha]

have you ever written or thought of writing a letter to your younger self?  what would you tell her/him?

[tekla]

Buy all the Intel and Microsoft stock you can when they do their first issues.  Keep on buying it.  Sell it all in 1999.  Convert that money to precious metals and off-shore those investments before 9-11.

I'd make a huge list entitled "Things You DON'T need to buy."
I'd make a smaller list of "women you should not sleep with."
I'd underline my ex's name many, many times on that list.

I'd tell myself to work more for social justice, and worry less about other people.

I'd tell myself to hold on, because its going to be one hell of a ride, both more wonderful and more horrible then you can ever imagine.

[lisagurl]

Since I do not like to write and I think in pictures, NO not under any circumstances would I write myself a letter.

[sd]

I would tell myself not to do some of the things I did on a bicycle.

Buy all the MS and Intel stock II can(if Tekla had not suggested it, I would have).

[FairyGirl]

Actually I visited my younger self once. Scared the hell out of me and took her years before she understood what happened. Of course once she did, it scared the hell out of her...

Seriously, I would tell myself to follow my dreams, and not worry so much what others will think. It's our life, after all.

[Miniar]

Mostly I'd tell myself not to sleep with certain people, not to trust certain other people, and tell myself to be more stubborn with doctors.

[imaz]

I'd tell myself not to sleep with friends and worse, and to have the courage to transition as a teenager.

On second thoughts maybe not, as I wouldn't have my lovely son and daughter in law with whom I spent today.

Probably tell myself not to start smoking cigarettes and that's it. It's been hard, but I've had a good life I guess, and continue to have one, thank God.

[Janet_Girl]

I would tell myself to buy Microsoft, Intel and Google.  And to avoid my first wife.  She is a harpy.

And that the first transition will survive, just keep going forward.

Janet

[Pica Pica]

i'm not sure. i'd like a me from ten years in the future to send me a letter for now. that'd be good.

[Jester]

I have no idea.  I'm still pretty much in the same boat I was in when I was younger... but I guess:

Studying WILL matter once you graduate so work on it now.
All of your friends from high school are literally worthless.  Do not hang out with them.
List of women not to sleep with.  I'm gonna have to go with imaz there.  Underline ex's name a bunch of times.
Be more confident, and remember that what other people want for you is not only not best, it's practically the worst.

[Mr. Fox]

Since I do not like to write and I think in pictures, NO not under any circumstances would I write myself a letter.

Maybe you could draw yourself a picture?

I'm too young to write my younger self a letter.  I haven't done anything important enough to warrant correcting mistakes.  I would like to visit my younger self to see how things were going; I don't remember my childhood in detail, and there are parts of it that I would like to observe firsthand again.

Jester, your avatar has gotten "Totoro" stuck in my head.

[lisagurl]

Maybe you could draw yourself a picture?

Life is now. Everything you have done has got you to this point. The butterfly effect has created the world we have now. If you lived true to yourself you would not want to change anything. No one makes mistakes on purpose. We choose are actions based on live thinking not on imaginary exercises.

[Ceri]

Anyone else here read Ken Grimwood's novel REPLAY? Highly recommended. Starts off with a middle-aged man dying in 1988, and waking up in the body of his college-age self in 1963. He lives through those years again, gets to 1988, dies...and the loop starts again. But it turns out that it's not quite the same thing over and over, and that he's not the only one doing the trip. Very moving.

My message to my younger self would mostly be "Go ahead and do it." The great troubles in my life have all been from shy self-doubt keeping me away from what I knew I wanted and should have gone for.

[TooManyToasters]

I'd tell myself from a year ago to stop being such a dolt.

[fluffy jorgen]

I'd tell them what a pathetic excuse for a human being I am and if they want to end up being it, keep the way they're going.

Nothing to do with money though because half the world would write themselves the winning lottery numbers and stock exchange highs and lows, so it wouldn't work.

And I'd only write them a letter if I was really desperate! 'Cause then that butterfly effect thing would work and any consequence would be better than the sorry state I'd be in.

Sorry, not in a serious mood today.

[Mr. Fox]

Really, I think I have to go with lisagurl and not change anything.  There may be a few minor mistakes I made (that won't matter in 10 years), but it might change something I don't want changed, blah dee blah dee blah.  I might write myself a letter of gibberish, just to confuse my younger self.

[myles]

Besides buying the stock  mentioned I don't know if I'd say much. There are people I should have never dated but met good friends through them. Life has been crazy, OK maybe I could have warned myself about the military years but then I would have missed out on all the new "things" I tried during that period and friends I met.
SO I guess buy Intel, Google, Microsoft and have a hell of a time!
Myles

[kody2011]

to prepare for heartache, but to not let it get me to that suicidle point. that things would get better. slowly but surly.

[phantom_heart]

I would tell my younger self to leave someone who hits you. Its not love.

I'd tell myself about credit cards and dept and how to properly use them

[Starr]

Life is now. Everything you have done has got you to this point.

This is so true to how I look at things. I always tell myself that everything bad I've ever gone through has brought me something else good in my life, even when it seems like the bad outweigh the good. Certain things I've gone through ended up leading me to seemingly unrelated things that were good--like having Hypatia in my life.

But still, I'd love to tell myself that 26 is not old and to wait awhile before getting married. Instead I content myself with telling young women I know to wait until they're at least 30.