Grieving My Younger Self

I am grieving the younger me who never had the experiences that I am able to have today. The fears and uncertainties are very serious at age 48. If I were 24, these fears and uncertainties would seem trivial. I did not have opportunities to be trivial at 24 because I did not move out from my mom's house until I was 27 and even then I had been transferred from Memphis, TN to Charlotte, NC.

Finishing college and pursuing my career path is my dream come true. Being this close to the finish line is something I could only dream about in my younger years because I left college in the winter of 1986 after starting in the fall of 1985. My younger self has been wanting and wishing to return and finish what was once started. I am grateful for this opportunity and I support all who experience college in their later years, either for the first time or to make changes to their career path.

I think of the 24 year old me with nothing but the clothes on her back and a Nissan Sentra. How many days did she long to take a thousand dollars and ride off into the sunset, destination unknown... I sometimes sit and wonder if the 24 year old me could give the 48 year old me advice what would she say? For starters, I think she would say, "Go!!", "Stop looking back at the past and take the dogs, the clothes on your back, the red Jeep and just go!!" and "If this situation only affords you one thousand dollars, just go because wherever you go is where you will be and whatever you do will be something you know you can, everything else will just fall into place."

If life is truly too short to live it with regrets shouldn't we all be willing to seek advice from our younger selves and experience some of the things missed? Also, my younger self would give another piece of advice, "When you get older you will gain weight. Don't kill yourself trying to lose it...."
(smile)

Thank you for following along on my journey.