Dear 20 year old Ness,
Hello, dear girl! Well, actually you're a young woman now. A proper grown up. I know! You certainly don't feel like one. I suspect you never will.
And you know what? It's okay. Most people are faking it, anyway. Besides, being a grown up is totally overrated, as you are discovering.
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| Image credit:https://www.facebook.com/purpleclvr/photos/a.375609882543951.1073741828.369508529820753/1953758248062432/?type=3&theater |
Oh yes, it's me by the way, your 46 year old self. Yes, you do make it to such a frightfully ancient number. There's a lot ahead of you. Some of it good. Some of it bad. Just like everyone else.
I expect you already got the letter I wrote to our sixteen year old self and was somewhat puzzled and intrigued. But what I said then still stands.
The thing is, I was going to provide you with a long list of do's and don't s:
DO ditch that boyfriend.
DON'T perm your hair anymore.
DO keep working in libraries.
DON'T put up with toxic 'friends'.
But recently I had something of an epiphany around the concept of regrets.
You're inclined to a lot of introspection - you can't help it, you're a massive introvert among other things - but you have to be mindful of not spiralling into too much rumination and over thinking. Besides, you don't spend too much more time with the boyfriend or toxic friends anyway.
So the only thing I really need to say is, you're actually okay. Just be kind to yourself.
This will be the last little self indulgent letter to myself, I'm fairly certain. After all, you now have a blog all about yourself. Coughs...
There are so many things you can write. Give them ago.
No wait. I lied.There IS another letter from your future self coming at 35. What I said there stands as well. Some hair curling shit will happen, but you'll be okay. Seriously.
At 46 you've realised that you're an odd contradiction of sweet, childlike and naive and an old
You will never be hip and cool and groovy. I mean, you just used the word groovy. Enough said.
So, what other interesting things can I report about the future?
2017 is...
Interesting and challenging.
We certainly don't live like those Jetsons cartoons, and alas, as I mentioned before, there are no hover boards. Hanna-barbera and Steven Spielberg are great big fat LIARS. Of course, you didn't fair too well with roller skates, so I'm sure you won't be too disappointed to discover this.
Sadly I am unable to divulge any future lotto numbers. This is truly tragic. I dunno, it's like the whole 'letters to past selves thing' don't work or something?
If I didn't know any better I'd swear The Magic Faraway Tree wasn't real and Samantha from Bewitched wasn't an actual witch...
Okay, maybe they weren't, but it doesn't hurt to believe in magic sometimes in this bat shit crazy, frightening, bewildering world. Yes, you're still a dreamer. So what?
So yeah, the only things I need to say are, be kind to yourself and don't take it all so seriously. No one gets out of this thing alive anyway. You may as well laugh at the absurdity and sheer ridiculousness of it all.
Which is why the perms weren't such a bad thing after all. They're freaking hilarious in retrospect.
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| Me at age 20 in 1991 ready for my TAFE graduation. |
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| At my 21st birthday. |
See what I mean?
Sincerely,
46 year old Ness
What would you tell your 20 year old self?
