Advice to my 18 year old self

Today is my 38th birthday.  Ugh.  How can that be possible?  I've been contemplating my life for the last few weeks, and realized 20 years ago today, I turned 18, and entered in the adult world.  I reflect on what I would change if I could, and decided to do a post about giving advice to my 18 year old self.

1.  Appreciate your beauty.  I think in society to day if we ever feel good about ourselves, we are seen as egotistical, so we are taught to find our fault, and self deprecate.  Conceited or not, I have to say, when I was 18 I looked good.  It was pre-baby, pre-adulthood, and I had a great body and beautiful skin, and I would tell my 18 year old self, enjoy it while it last.  I look at this picture of me and I am instantly tearing it apart, but I find myself wondering how I will feel about it in 20 years. Maybe I should appreciate how young I look now.

2.  Worrying is like praying for things you don't want. I got this quote off Pinterest and it has recently become my motto for life.  I have suffered from anxiety since I was a little kid, and constantly worry about things that might happen.  I notice when you worry about it, it somehow comes to be.   I would like my younger self to understand this, so I could create things I want, instead of worrying about what I don't.

3.  Do things that scare you.  Because of my anxiety I have lived a quiet life and I'm pretty much okay with that.  Except I wish I would have taken the chance to have a few adventures, do things that break me out of my comfort zone.  If I could go back, I would take more chances.

4.  Trust you gut.  I have spent far too much time agonizing over decisions and second guessing everything I do.  As I have gotten older, I have learned that I am wired with self-preservation, so if my gut is telling me something, I should just follow.

5.  Let it go.  I tend to be unforgiving of myself and those around me.  I hang on to things forever!  This is something I am still working on, but am better now than I was before.  In twenty years I hope it is something I have completely adopted into my personality.

I could go on but get bored with long blog posts so I will spare you.  I hope in twenty years I won't have any advice for my younger self because I will have lived how I wanted to.