Some Advice to My Younger Self

We like to think about going back in time and speaking with our younger self. Fact is, that’s not going to happen! Nevertheless, here’s some advice to my younger self.

Where to Begin?

A longer version of the question behind this LinkedIn article title would be something like: “What's the single most important piece of advice you would give to your younger self?”

I suspect that for many people, “single most important” would be really difficult to answer.

Why? Because you're having to boil down all of life experiences into one piece of advice. I'm not convinced that's even possible.

More realistically, I suspect we would give advice to our younger self based on criteria such as:

1. Our personal experiences
2. A desire to not repeat past (serious) mistakes, and
3. The hope of an easier time of it the second time around.

In Ecclesiastes 12.1 Solomon encourages those younger than him to remember their creator while they're young. In short - build personal spirituality early in life. proverbsforprofessionals.net

Ok, One Piece of Advice

Well, if pushed into a corner, my one piece of advice to my younger self would be to stay faithful in my spiritual life.

That is, don't rely totally on my desire to make sense of things by myself.

I think I was consistent, mostly, in doing just that. However, if I was sharing with my children and grandchildren, I'd encourage them to focus their attention on their own spiritual sensitivity.

Ok, but why?personal spiritual growth ? Because clarity about WHO you are in relation to God, as well as about your life purpose, is critical.

In my world view, life purpose drives our priorities. Therefore, if your not self-aware enough to have your spiritual life straight, then purpose and priorities become much harder to figure out.

However...

Now, a warning. The term “spirituality” gets much usage, and lots of misuse.

I’m defining spirituality and spiritual sensitivity in the terms of a relationship.

Your definition of spirituality may very well differ from the concepts of Lordship and a personal relationship with God. Or, spirituality may not be part of your life at all.

I get it that it's possible for people from different cultures and religious backgrounds to define a faith relationship differently. I'm sharing here from my personal experience.

Where This Leaves Us

Some faith. Different definition of faith. No faith.

Regardless, your deliberate choices about your beliefs have the potential of bringing you into a personal relationship with the eternal God.

Consequently, your walk of faith enables you to deepen your spirituality.

Then, that spirituality should has a very practical impact on your life by way of the lifestyle choices you make.

So what? The "so what" here is changes in life outcomes.

Personally, I share the balanced life with influencers so they can be wise-hearted and wise-behaving. proverbsforprofessionals.net

Apply This Today!

There’s an assumption here about “Some advice to my younger self.” We’re assuming my younger self would be willing to listen to, then thoughtfully consider, the advice! Ha! My younger self knew everything already!

In general, regardless of our stage in life, we’re able to absorb advice depending on our level of emotional maturity at that point in time. Hence, the value of developing emotional intelligence early in life.

Unfortunately, it’s pointless to go back in time. Why? Because my prior self at that earlier stage of life would, very likely, not grasp why a specific piece of advice was so critical.

For a more in-depth discussion of this topic, see my Proverbs for Professionals blog version of this LinkedIn article which is available here .