3 Important Things I Would Advise My 18 yr Old Self

artgirl(69)

Published in

ThoughtfulDailyPost

Words

1344

Reading

6 min

Listen

Play

If there was ever a way for me to go back to the past and advise my younger self these would be it. I choose my 18 year old self because hey, legal age. Not an adult but not a kid too!

At this age I was still not that set in my ways. It would have been nice if someone told me and insisted on these 3 things back then. But oh well, we make our own choices based on what we currently feel and know.

So anyway here's the top 3 things I would tell my younger self. These are the absolutely necessary information young people should know! _{(Writing this for the October Thoughtful Daily Post community prompt!)}

_{Philippine peso bills in my hand. Hehe.}

1. Save save save and earn some money!!!

Don't use up any savings you accumulate ever! Never ever give up all the money you have even if it's for the family. Nooooo.

Oh boy, the maturity level is really pitiful at this age but still I should have started working at least. If only... Too bad I wasn't raised to think like that. Even saving money wasn't prioritized in our family!!! Omg. My young self wanted to go to college instead of even just work a little for it like a few people I knew. Ah well...

Saving money is important so one can have something to invest in the future! Money doesn't grow on trees but expenses (needs and wants) are all over the place. Whew.

2. Sleep as late as 10 pm, or take care of your health!

Yep, it's nice to work work work on those school assignments until it's done but it can be finished upon waking up too! "Early to bed, early to rise" as the saying goes. No need to sleep past 2 or 3 am when you can do it early in the morning instead.

If only I did not develop the bad habit of sleeping sooo late because of those college assignments. Lol. I did choose a course that I didn't know required a lot of time to finish homeworks. sigh Yeah I did shift to another course eventually but the damage had been done. 😅

Health is wealth and it is only really realized once we are older. By that time it would be too late. So dear young ones reading this, better prioritize your health now before it's too late. Your body will really do a payback if you treat it bad, especially when you reach middle age and older. Don't believe me? Just ask your parents or older relatives. 😂

One grandma of ours used to tell us her health story. She had cancer because she was working two jobs abroad thus couldn't sleep enough. Eventually she got that grave illness but the good thing was, she was able to beat it and lived a healthier lifestyle since then. Had to have a body part removed too just to be safe. She lived until 80+.

alt
_{Some meds I took in 2021.}

Unforunately I did not think of her story as something that could happen to me at all. I enjoyed staying up late for many years so of course my immune system would get weaker as I aged. That means I have had several mild to almost grave illnesses over the years due to having poor health. Tsk tsk.

Also, a sedentary lifestyle will bring all sorts of sicknesses. Make sure to exercise at least 2 or 3 times a week! Spending money on medicine is such a waste especially if we could prevent getting sick. Prevention is better than cure! 👍

3. Don't stop going to Sunday mass and doing confessions!

This one is importaaaant! Ah but my younger self might not understand. If only summady told me back then how important this is to protect ourselves from evil. Oh man... I could have saved myself from all the mental health issues, work and home problems and/or headaches/heartaches over the years.

Nobody was talking about such back in those days. Being a Catholic is just something we take for granted, not knowing the real value of praying the rosary, the Sacraments (like Confession) and going to Sunday mass weekly.

I'm a cradle Catholic, but growing up... everything was just meh. My family and grandparents or relatives weren't religious at all! If anything most were inclined to the occult or New Age and even a different religion (???). Oh such idolatry... Tsk. But we were all baptized Catholic afaik. Most likely this is due to the lack of proper catechism to teenagers and even adults. To this day I know it's lacking!

However, these days we are all lucky because of smartphones + the internet has everything. Anyone can just look up religious topics online. For example, we can easily read or listen to/watch talks and interviews by/from Catholic priests and Christian pastors via social media or websites.

Especially after the pandemic many priests have churned out helpful content! Various topics are being discussed like: Ways to keep bad thoughts, depression or evil spirits away, how to do proper examination of conscience before confession, why bad things happen to us, etc.

alt
_{Photo I took of the interior of the St. Therese of the Child Jesus Diocesan Shrine and Parish in Antipolo, altar and pews.}

But when I was 18 I didn't even think of Godly or Catholic things. Even if I could go online it never even occured to me to research about anything religious. Lol I was more into looking for ways to earn money (and poetry or random things) but meh, feeble attempts. 😂

These days we can see and hear all the terrible things people do to others. There's too much negativity out there now, especially online. People are getting too prideful while others get bullied, trolled and bashed or cancelled for many reasons. Corruption is still rampant, pollution and climate change is worse, and look, wars are still happening in this day and age! What the heck.

Being a good Catholic/Christian will help each of us treat each other and our environment better. This avoids common strife and bickering or quarreling among us. Going to confession regularly (bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly) and the mass weekly will give us graces to become an upstanding and honorable individual.

Just going to mass alone is not enough, we need the presence of God or Jesus in our life constantly. Adding daily prayers and regular confession (to a priest or pastor for absolution) in our life will definitely help us overcome our sinful nature. It keeps the devil away you know, just like an apple a day keeps the doctor away. haha.

If only summady had drilled it in me back then that being a devout Catholic is important maybe I would be a totally different person now. I'd be much closer to God earlier too. Maybe I could have lived a better life and become a really good influence on others if that happened.

So there you have it, my top 3 things I'd tell my younger self. Dang now I feel old. 😂

Anyway it's not too late for the youth of today who are reading this. I hope I have shed some light on why these three are important to have in life. 😉 Before becoming a full adult, one must have these in mind. It will definitely help your future self to have a better life.

XOXO,
@artgirl