Advice from my Younger Self
/There has been a trend recently to offer advice to your younger self. The idea being that if the wiser you could reach back through time and whisper "Back to the Future" style life-changing advice to your younger naive self, what secrets to life success would you impart?
I use old photographs in my artwork and I'm working on a piece at the moment with this little lady.
This is me on my fourth birthday, caught with, what has come to be known [by my husband] as my "cheeky face".
I look at this little girl and she somehow seems gutsier than the "now me". I mean, for a start she's adopting the Superhero power pose, said to instantly ignite inner confidence. Frankly, I don't do this enough nowadays. Why I felt the need to do it at this moment, who knows?! Though, apparently, I'd had trouble blowing out candles before....But not this time! Number four, I've got you covered! I will not be defeated, little sticks of fire! I will take you out and I'm gonna like it. (As I said, she's gutsier.)
She's also... (and I've never said this about myself before)... OMG adorable!
I want nothing but good things for her. I want to tell her how she can achieve whatever she wants in life; to never listen to anyone who puts her down; that she deserves happiness and greatness...Which would be a real waste of risking the whole disaster of the space time continuum thingy because she clearly already believes those things.
My inner critic treats this little girl abhorrently. I am continually putting her down, convincing her she'll never be as good as she wants to be; will never succeed.
Would I go back in time and say those things to her cute little cheeky face?
I'm ashamed of my treatment of her. She doesn't deserve my harshness. She deserves nothing but my absolute kindness. I should be her cheerleader, not her heckler.
We're partners on this journey, her and I. I can hear her whispering to me through the magic of time "You can do it".
*adopts the Superhero pose*