At this moment, if I should meet my younger self, I might probably find him somehow reading, playing football or on his bed going through his 2go and Facebook messages wondering if someone had replied ha messages or the type of response to give. I can remember giving small things that much power over my emotions and mood.
What I will firstly tell him is that, not all silence means rejection. Most of the time, people are caught up with life, busy and occupied work loads. I will also tell him not to use other people's clock to check mine, not to compare his progress with that of others but can learn from them. Hearing that someone just got a new shoes, phone or started earning money once made me feel left behind.
What I will surely not do is to warn him against every mistake. Because in life, we need to learn from our mistakes to make a better decision next life and some mistakes teaches lessons that advice cannot give me. I once took a lot of time to start something because I was not completely sure and ready. I kept planning out something in my head until the opportunity passed me by. I will tell my younger self to always start first even when it seems rough and along the way, he will be figuring it out.
After that, I will ask him about his challenges, what he is afraid of. I suspect he will also give the same answer like I also do, being afraid to disappoint people. That I will pay close attention to because I know that heavy feeling of trying to convince everyone that you are doing fine even when struggling.
Before I leave, I will not make a false promise that everything will turn out to be good. What I will let my younger self know is that he does not need to be impressive to deserve patience, even from himself. With all that, I hope he will accept and believe everything I have said. Because now, I am still trying and learning to give myself that same patience, without talking all the delays that comes my way as personal failure.
Thank you for reading.
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