Hey friends,

I wanted to share with you an activity I enjoyed around the time I was leaving teaching and needed some perspective.

I was working through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and was particularly intrigued by one of the writing exercises that required the reader to speak to themselves from the perspective of their older self.

I can’t remember if 80 is the number she suggested, or if 80 is the number I was drawn to, but I was fascinated to tap into whoever that future me was and the wealth of insight I was certain she would have. You’d assume that by 80 there’d be some level of wisdom to share.

For some reason I imagined this 80 year old version of myself wearing a sweatshirt with Myrtle Beach scrawled in block letters across the breast. My hair would be in some violently geometric circular shape. My face would be tan and lined with wrinkles, and my body would be fleshy and soft but solid. I’d wear big glasses and a smile that lived on the entirety of my face. She just seems kind, peaceful, knowing. Certain that everything is going to work out just fine.

My old lady self seems like a nice woman who has lived a lot of life. So, what did she have to tell me? Glad you asked.

From 80 Year Old Me

Sweetie! Come take a seat. I’ve made you a cup of tea and some nice cookies for dunking…

Wait.

You know what? I have something better for dunking cookies…

*Goes to liquor cabinet and extracts a bottle of whiskey*

There we go. Tea just won’t do when you’ve got thoughts to think. You’ll thank me later.

I heard you’ve been having a tough time with this whole life thing. Wondering what’s next. If you’re making the right steps. All of that. I hope you don’t mind the words of an old busybody. But I love you, and if experience has taught me anything it’s that everything ends up okay in the end. The rest is just ornaments on the tree.

So, indulge me with some tenets I think might help in your situation. And some other situations you might find yourself in.

1. That thing that you’re thinking about doing that’s giving you all of that anxiety, get up and do it. I swear, you’ll feel so much better.
2. Motivation can only get you so far. Sometimes, you’ll have to rely on your discipline to get you up and moving. You don’t have to like what you’re doing, but no one said you had to be happy doing the thing you don’t want to do. Just do it with a frown. That’s good enough.
3. Your anxiety is a liar. Plain and simple.
4. That boy or girl you’re crying over will be middle aged someday with a thick waist and a sorry hairline. Save your tears for something worth crying over.
5. Fall in love with the person they are now and not the person you think they can be. Who they are now is a certainty while who they can be might never come to fruition.
6. Speaking of crying, if you find yourself on the bathroom floor, sobbing, it’s time to rethink things. There’s nothing, and I mean nothing, that can’t be solved with a moment of quiet. What’s in your heart? Start there.
7. Go for a walk. Sunshine and movement can fix more than you think.
8. If you want a thing bad enough, you’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen. If you’re willing to put it off, well then, doesn’t that show you maybe the thing you thought you wanted wasn’t for you?
9. Nothing that is meant for you will pass you by. And the things you thought you wanted that do pass you by are a blessing. Let me tell you.
10. I know it sounds hokey, but when your heart starts to race, meditate. Get quiet with yourself. It’ll slow things down.
11. There is no job on this earth that can pay you enough to be miserable.
12. Buy the ticket.

We spend so much of our lives comparing, comparing, comparing. For what? You know your story. And when it comes to everyone else, you only know what they are willing to share.

In the end, making the leap is worth the reward, even if you land someplace far from the path where you thought you’d end up.

Is this making any sense? Maybe we need more whiskey.

But if you take nothing from this chat we’ve been having, I’ll leave with you with some words my PopPop told me when I was 12, “You never have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

I think that’s the recipe for happiness, don’t you?

Until next time, friends.