Published on 12, July, 2020
This may be more appropriate for the older members, but younger ones may find it useful and may have some advice to give.
My really big one is I wish I was less of a 'people pleaser', less compliant.
I think I have been quite easily manipulated during my life and if I hadn't been, my life would have taken a different course.
I have finally learnt to say 'no' and am trying hard to 'please myself'.
What about you?
General advice or specific advice? The following advice is stuff I got wrong and regret, at the end is some stuff I think worked out better, some of which I wish I'd found sooner. This is a good topic, which I have considered many times, whether in the form of what would I do differently if I had another go, or what would I write to myself if I could send back a letter through time, but I have tried to make it more generally relevant.
Drink more water. Warm up before exercise. Clean your teeth every night. Don't give up on God. Try to avoid burnout (do try the fun thing but don't feel obliged to stick to it if it's not fun any more and is taking more of your time and energy than you can spare it).
Buy that really cool bike! (But when making a big purchase don't impulse buy but check it is actually a good option - dodgy harp I'm thinking of you!) Some things can be put off, other things it's really better to not put them off. You can pause studies without having to drop out!
Don't be embarrassed to ask for help even for stuff you think you ought to be able to do (better to admit you have forgotten how to do long division (because after all it was quite a few years ago and calculators are a thing) than to fail maths A level by feeling ashamed to not be able to do something you were taught as a small child!)
Sometimes the thing you think is the right thing to do might not be the best thing to do. Giving up is sometimes the right thing to do, changing course is sometimes a good plan. Don't ride a long way on the back of a motorbike in winter without windproof clothing!
It's not a mad idea to follow that obscure hyper-nerdy dream, it might just be the best idea you ever had! It might not, but at least check it out, you never know what might be possible.
How much younger? If I could give advice to me from a decade or so ago (apart from that many of my problems were actually neurodiversity go check it out) it would include just because you can afford the thing and like the thing and want the thing is it really actually a good idea to buy so much of it?! (Hint, future you has to deal with all that stuff now!) Sometimes quality is better than quantity, if you must but Victorian clothes from ebay maybe get a few of the more interesting things that cost a bit more rather than fifty trillion cheap things! Also keeping things in sealed bags might deter moths (not always!) so if you open the bag of wool or alpaca and can't close it, get someone to close it for you!
It's never too late to find God, he's not hiding, he wants you to find him! Try to eat healthy meals most of the time but enjoy the occasional treat. Try to find out about how to access the special dentist, before you are in crisis. Even if you are disabled there are some really cool forms of exercise available if you go looking, and charities that help with it, so don't assume you can't exercise and just be miserable about it and sit around getting more ill, exercise really is good for your mental and physical health. And you don't actually know what gym stuff you can use if you don't try.
This isn't everything but it's getting long so I shall finish with one more bit of advice - you don't have to finish it all in one go! I could come back and add more things, but it isn't the end of the world if I don't, sometimes it is better to do half a job than none, or make a start and rest. So whether or not I add to this, I hope it helps someone!