If I Could Go Back in Time, These Are the 3 Things I Would Tell Myself in My Early 20s

Maybe they’re cliché, but they would’ve helped me

I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

I stood up with a pounding headache.

On yet another Sunday morning, I was assuming the role of a hungover college kid.

I’d gone out drinking late the past night with friends. I had some fun and blew off some steam.

It was work hard, play hard.

Several years later, I look back on those times with fondness and horror. My friends and I treated our bodies like shit.

Too much drinking on the weekends. Late-night pizza. Terrible hangovers.

Memories were made. I had a lot of fun. I had to go through these experiences to become the person I am today.

And after graduating from college, I learned to taper the drinking down. At this point, I may have one drink in a month, if that.

To be fair, I wasn’t a degenerate. I would go out on Friday and Saturday nights. During the week, I was disciplined with my studies so that I could afford to have fun on the weekends.

If I could go back in time, these are the things I’d tell myself.

Think long-term

In my early 20s, I felt invincible. I could do anything.

I didn’t have to make my health a priority.

I could just skate through school, earn good grades, and then graduate and hopefully get a job.

I felt like I was on a path I had determined. I wanted to study engineering and then work in the tech field.

And I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t do that.

But in hindsight, I would encourage myself to think more long-term with my career.

What do I actually enjoy doing?

What do I enjoy so much that I could do it for 40+ years?

What courses or hobbies excite me?

I went down the path I was on because I was naturally inclined towards the STEM field.

If I could have kept a more open mind towards other subjects, I think I would have found that I was passionate about other topics as well.

I can’t really blame myself though. I decided on a path, followed it, and then ultimately determined that it wasn’t for me.

I couldn’t have figured this out if I hadn’t lived it.

It’s a process of trial and error.

You will have some regrets

This isn’t to say that you should do stupid things.

But, we will all have regrets.

Regrets are a part of life.

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t have any regrets.

For so many years, I tried to avoid having any regrets.

I didn’t want to step on people’s toes. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I didn’t want to fail.

And this led me to a smaller life.

It’s counterintuitive, but I’ve found that the more time I spent trying to avoid regrets, the more regrets I’d end up having.

It’s hard to put into words, but that’s the best explanation I can give.

If you spend too much of your time living in fear, your life will become limited.

So push back on your boundaries. Make some mistakes. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Listen to yourself

As children, most of us want to fit in. We don’t want to stand out or come off as strange.

Then, there comes a point in life where our uniqueness is what draws others toward us.

I wish that I’d been more true to myself in certain parts of my life.

I wish that I’d cared less about what other people thought.

This ties into my last point.

But here, I’m also talking about listening to what you desire and going after it.

Getting to know yourself is a lifelong process.

Many people can’t sit still with themselves. And that can be limiting.

If you can become aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll be better off.

What things are you doing just because you feel external pressure to do so?

In what ways are you just trying to fit in?

Are you hiding parts of yourself to appear more “normal?”

I wish that I’d spent more time doing my own thing in my early 20s.

My early 20s were fun, exciting, and challenging.

It was a period of growth.

But along with that growth came growing pains.

Around your early 20s, you start to enter the “real world.”

I would have been better off if someone had told me these things.

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