20 Things I Wish I Could Have Told My Younger Self

The things I would have told my younger self if I had the chance: 

1. Your circumstances are temporary, and because of this fact, they will not last forever. Learn to let them be and love yourself despite them.

2. Life is going to change a whole lot in your twenties, so if you try to remain stuck, life will uproot you and force you to change anyway. 

3. It is much more calming to initiate change yourself than to feel like the universe is tugging you to do so. 

4. Your GPA, outfit, hair, social media presence, job, relationship, makeup, friends, major, male attention, and past do not define you, and they never will.

5. The feelings, opinions, and ultimatums of other people simply do not matter unless they serve a purpose in your life.

6. Time flies. If you never slow down to acknowledge it, it will be gone before you know it.

7. You need to make the scariest decisions because you earn the most from them.

8. Stop caring so much about what other people think—and depending on what they think to make you feel a certain way about yourself.

9. Release the heaviness.

10. You are never going to change someone who does not want to change themselves.

11. Fear, doubt, and a lack of self-confidence are the same exact emotion expressed in different forms.

12. If you want to fly, you are going to have to discard the people, connections, and situations holding down your wings. This process is scary, and unlike anything you have done before, but you will be okay. 

13. You are capable.

14. If you did not experience the hardship, you would not have gained the wisdom.

15. Your stressors are survivable. In fact, surviving them makes you stronger.

16. Everything happens for you, not to you, and you are least likely to see that in the moment.

17. Resiliency and discipline are the two most integral components to seeing success in your life, whether that be personally or professionally.

18. You never gave up on yourself, stuck true to your vision, and leaned on your moral compass when you knew you were losing your grip.

19. Without peace, there is no power, and without power, there is no freedom.

20. Stop being your own worst enemy.

Most of all, I would tell you that you are loved.

That you are understood and that you did the best you could. That you did not have it easy by any means, and that your feelings were valid. That the mistakes were not avoidable, because without them, you could not have known better now. That I forgive you and that I commend you for surviving the torrential downpours.