This song says a lot:

 

Song

Dear Younger Me by MercyMe

 

Dear younger me Here is what I wish you would have realized when you were younger

High school popularity truly  doesn’t matter.

Don’t smoke cigarettes ever, they suck and are hard to quit.

Spend more time with your family.They  may seem lame now but trust me there will be days when you wish you could talk to your parents.They won’t always be around you know.

You are a child of God,do you know how special you are? How blessed? Your parents didn’t make you go to church just to get you out of the house. They saw you had a gift for people, helping people, learn to see your gift

Spend time outside, take a hike see the beauty that’s out there.

Wear sunscreen.
You may love the tan now but remember a dried grape is a raisin, you don’t want your skin to look like that

Be on time. Be dependable.You do not want to get a reputation as someone who is always late to something. Just be dependable
Develop healthy eating and exercise habits early on.
I never learned how to eat healthy because I never had to eat healthy. Keeping myself healthy at 53 would be so much easier if I learned good nutrition at 16.

Go to church and be active in your community.
You will find it more fulfilling than any party and you are making the world a better place

You are beautiful. Keep saying it

That boy/man who just broke your heart? The one you swear with every breath you take you will never get over?
You will.
You definitely will. In time. Everything gets better with time. By the time you are 30, you will be with someone who puts all those other “loves of your life” to shame.

Don’t allow anyone to abuse you. If they do get out, get out fast. They won’t change they will say they are sorry until it happens again. It is not your fault it is  them that has a problem.
Don’t get a credit card until you know how to actually use one.
Thanks for the debt and crappy credit score, younger me! A credit card is not a debit card. Repeat that to yourself every day.
Your life does not have to be a party for it to be exciting.
It is perfectly fine to sit at home on the weekends and read, watch TV or simply do nothing. Do not think you need to be out at the bars dancing and making out with strangers all the damn time. It stops being fun real quick.

You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.
Marriage, kids,  career, those ideas might be forced on you or you might be forcing them on yourself. This is your life. Decide what you want and don’t want and stick to it, even if you are being pressured by someone else to think otherwise. You don’t want kids? That’s fine. You want to change careers suddenly? Do it!Because when you get older, these decisions come with severe consequences and making them will be a lot harder. Find out who you are; don’t let others tell you who you are. They are wrong.

Take care of your car.
Regular oil changes. Good tires. And don’t just put a piece of tape over that “Check Engine” light. Go get it checked out.
Get out of that tanning bed this instant, young lady!
Stop trying to plan everything out.
Not everything in life will go the way you think it’s supposed to. And that’s a good thing.

Drop those toxic friends.You know the ones that always seem to get you grounded.
If there any people in your life who make you wonder why you even hang out with them? Drop them.

Learn to take a nap
For the love of god learn to enjoy a good nap

Start that 401K immediately.
Even if you don’t know what that is. Just do it as soon as you are able to. Or at the very least start your savings account.

Be nice to people.All people
You never know what someone is going through. So smile. Say hello. Help them.

You do not need a relationship to feel complete.
Live your life the way you want to. Find out what makes you happy. That way, when you meet who you think is The One, it’s someone who you want to share your life with and not someone who will complete your life.

Enjoy life, before the Internet, learn to put down your cell phone
enjoy your life without it.

Learn a different language.
You studied Spanish in high school, but then you stopped. I really wish you stuck with it so I could at least speak it conversationally. That would be cool.

Never be ashamed of you who you are.
Younger me, I am so proud of who I am at age 53. I am awesome. And I wish I spent more of my teenage years believing that. It would have made so many things much easier.