One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received on the subject of bettering oneself is: imagining yourself in the future, looking back at your current life, giving yourself a second chance at all your life decisions. What would you do differently the second time around?
What if you truly had the opportunity to go back in time, like in the movie “About Time”? To relive moments, or even have the chance to go back an entire 20-something years and live it a second time around? What advice would you give your past self? What choices would you change and what choices would you repeat, knowing you made the right decision from the start?
If you did have the opportunity to, consider how you would behave differently.
What would you do?
What would you prioritize?
What would you disregard?
Your children, if you have them, will never be the same age again.
The work you’re doing — is it really what you want to be doing?
The issues you’re stressing about now — does it really matter?
You can daydream about what you would do with your one beautiful life, if you had a second go around, but the truth is you do not have a second shot at this life. This is it. Your one and only opportunity to make it the very best, full, most meaningful experience you could ever imagine.
The following 9 practical pieces of advice will help you contemplate your own life and how you can make the best choices for the present moment that eventually shape your future.
Time management
Motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, stated once that “we are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The people whom you spend the most time with will inevitably shape who you are. Therefore, it is wise to think carefully about the people who you spend the most time with; and to create a healthy balance between enjoying your life and building towards the future you desire.
Life is meant to be enjoyed, but you cannot also always sacrifice temporary moments of pleasure over long-term gain. Keep your future self in mind when deciding how to spend your time. Will you regret this decision? Or will you be grateful you gave yourself that experience? You can never get back the time you lost, but you will always have time to look forward to if you use it wisely.
Find a strong role model or mentor
Finding someone who you can look up to and confide in through life’s challenges, especially at young and impressionable ages, can be so beneficial and impactful. While this can come from a parent figure, sometimes it can be more beneficial if it’s outside the family structure.
Ideally, someone who knows you well and can help guide and lead you in the right direction. Someone who can help give you the sound advice you need when dealing with difficult situations and experiences.
This can be someone older than you, like a father or mother figure, or even a peer. It’s helpful to find that person when you’re young, but finding a mentor at any stage in your life will benefit your life greatly and help shape your future in the best way possible.
Prioritizing your health
I’ve heard people say before that “if I only knew I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself”. Yes, it is fun to throw caution to the wind and just live for the present, but taking care of yourself now to benefit your future self will insure you can enjoy life for a long time to come. This does mean making sacrifices sometimes over temporary pleasure, for long-term gain, but the benefits of such choices will greatly impact your future self.
So, make intentions to prioritize your health. Develop good eating habits and exercise routines now that will serve you in life for a long time to come. This doesn’t mean being strict with yourself all the time and not leaving any room for indulgences. Just be mindful of them, enjoy them, but try to make them no more than 20% of your daily or weekly habits, so that at least 80% of your habits are benefiting your future self. This will create a healthy balance to allow room for fun things, food and time off from working out, but also a balance of building a healthy routine so you can easily get back on track without beating yourself up.
Take time to enjoy life
There is this curse in life where we yearn to be older when we are young, but then wish we were younger when we are old. So enjoy your youth. Don’t waste it on comparing yourself to others or wishing away things you don’t currently have. Rather, enjoy the things you do currently have in the present. Life goes by fast, and faster yet if you’re constantly living in the future, rather than the present moment. Enjoy the little moments, the precious ones you’ll never get back. Enjoy the silly ones, the loving ones, the thrilling and adventurous ones.
Stay present as much as you can, but especially in those moments you want to cherish forever. Enjoy life as you have it now, and if you are young, enjoy it before it gets too serious. There is so much joy to be had in every stage of your life, but when we are young, we often put too much pressure on ourselves to grow up fast and have everything figured out. Remind yourself that everyone has to figure things out as they go, and rushing to a certain stage in life won’t get you there any faster, but it will guarantee missing out on the enjoyment of life as it is now.
Invest more time in life experiences
Sometimes, we can get caught up in the superficial things in life, that when we look back, don’t mean anything in the bigger scheme of life. These superficial things can also cause a distraction from the life that we truly want to live. It can pull our attention down a rabbit hole of comparison and take away from the joy of deeper, more meaningful things in life.
Take the time instead to invest in experiences that you’ll remember for a lifetime, rather than focusing on the superficial things that you will most likely forget about years to come. As we get older, we gain this wisdom, but it will help you live a more meaningful life now if you start living with intention in this way.
Acknowledge the bad choices
We all crave to fit in and desire connection. All humans want to be a part of something. Sometimes due to this human need, we make choices that are not the best for us. Acknowledge this, and simply learn from these choices in order to make better ones next time. Forgive yourself in those moments as it is human nature, and always be gentle with yourself. However, do not dwell on those past mistakes, but let each of those choices, as you learn to do better, be building blocks towards a better version of you.
Embrace your uniqueness
Embrace your amazing uniqueness! What makes you interesting and special is what sets you apart from everyone else. If you always try to fit in and be like everyone else, then it just dissolves what truly makes you beautiful. You are one of a kind. There is no one else like you, and there will never be anyone else like you. Your uniqueness, and what makes you stand apart from everyone else, is exactly what this world needs. So, don’t deprive the world of that beautiful spark that makes you, you.
Be kind
As you traverse through life, always remember to be kind, but most importantly to be kind to yourself. It is important to spread kindness as often as you can, wherever you can, but never let that kindness trump taking care of and prioritizing yourself. Life with all its ups and downs and challenges, it’s imperative that you have compassion for yourself and show yourself love and kindness. The more kindness you show to yourself, will also naturally overflow into showing more kindness to others. It will help soften the edges of the roughness in this world, making it a gentler place to enjoy your life.
Listen to your intuition
I’m sure you have heard the phrase before, “let your intuition be your guide”, but it’s true. That natural gut instinct that you have. That soft whisper in your heart. It’s all guiding you down that path you’re meant to lead. The key is learning to quiet the mind and our ego in order to hear our intuition more clearly. Whatever lights you up inside. Whatever fuels you with passion. Follow that. Don’t let your ego fill you with doubts or discouragement. As long as you keep on the path that your heart is telling you, then you will achieve those dreams you dream of.
Final Thoughts
So, if you could imagine even for a day, that you came back to this moment 20 years from the future to today, to relive the next portion of your life with more intention and meaning. What would you do differently? What would you do the same?
Live your life as if you have deliberately come back to this very day, and make it the best, most meaningful experience that you can. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Be present in the moments you want to remember. Chase the dreams you want to come true. Never doubt your potential or what is possible. Always have gratitude and appreciate the little things. Because the little things in life always add up to big things.
Always remember that the meaning of life is love. To give and receive as much love as you possibly can. To allow love in, and to give love to others. So be generous. Be loving. Share your love with as many people as you can. Tell people you love them while you can. And most importantly, learn to let love in. Let love in for yourself. Let love in from other people.
Lastly, I leave you with this quote from the movie, About Time:
“I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”
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