If I Knew Then What I Know Now: A Letter to Edith's Past Self

Dear,

You... Me... Us …

I know you think you don’t have your life together. News flash kiddo, at 25 you will still be trying to piece it together! Ten years into your future you will have learned a lot, but I want to use the opportunity to share some important life lessons that if applied sooner will come in handy.

Not knowing everything is not a bad thing. Life is about making mistakes and figuring out how to cope. Whenever you have doubt, you should ask questions even if you think you sound  stupid. Chances are that a lot of people around you feel the same way and have the same questions. When you choose to keep quiet, you deprive yourself from learning something new and sharing the knowledge with those around you.

You are young and smart, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on pointless things. You have so much to look forward to... you have no idea. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you can’t make decisions for yourself. That guy that made you feel like you were HIS property, is still an asshole. But who cares about his A$$!? I know you were afraid to lose him, but guess what? There are plenty of people in your life to love and who will love you back. These people will support you and help you become more independent. When you realize that your life is in YOUR hands, you can make decisions for yourself to create your own path. Don’t waste time with bittersweet people, you won’t get that time back. You have much learning to do and no time fo’ mahfuck@s. It is worth your while to spend time thinking about more important things such as school and your artistic and spiritual development; focus on these aspects of your life and you will continue to add more meaning to it.

You don’t realize it now but when you place your self-worth in the hands of someone who doesn’t appreciate and love you for who you are, it really wounds your self esteem. Don’t worry about what others will think, you don’t owe them anything. Just remember that you have to love yourself for who you are and don’t be ashamed of what you need and what makes you happy. It’s not up to anyone to determine what happiness is for you. Happiness is relative to each person. If you take care of yourself and work to keep YOU happy, you’ll be much more grateful and at peace with yourself. Don’t create an inner war with yourself to the point of no return, learn to cope with your surroundings. Afterall life is a game of push and pull. There will always be things to learn and unlearn. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Dream BIG. Dreams don’t cost you anything. You don’t have a lot of people who expect much of you other than your teachers and your parents. YOUR life is about YOU. You have the opportunity to dream big and work hard towards making those dreams come true. It’s ok if right now you don’t have the funds to travel, you don’t need it. Get lost in a new culture, visit a temple you’ve never been to before, eat food from another origin, follow the sunset until the edge of the world. Write down a list of places you want to go to and things you want to accomplish. It is especially important to write things down so that you can visualize what you want to do and you can work towards that goal. Once you’ve seen those goals through, crossing them off your bucket-list will feel satisfying! You will have the feeling of accomplishment and will want to work towards more goals and challenge yourself along the way!

Yo, get your isht together. You have a whole life ahead of you, don’t let the moment pass you by and live!

Much love and best wishes,

Edith P.

What is Your Super Power? To Infinity and Beyond.

Become a doctor. Become a lawyer. Become an engineer. Become an Architect. ...the list can go on for days. If you have ever heard this from anyone close to you, you know exactly what I am talking about. For a major chunk of my life I was told that I was going to become a doctor, and for a majority of that chunk I believed it, but as I got older I realized that this was infact NOT what I wanted to be. Just the thought of being in school for a really long time, and all those science classes … no thanks! NOT FOR ME! This is MY life, and only I live with the choices I make. Likewise, YOU are the one who lives with YOUR decisions, so make them worth your while. The trick to being happy and successful, is taking the time to figure out what you are actually good at, your superpower!!! You will only be happy with life if you wake up every morning doing what you love and being surrounded by people you love. So figure out what your super power is, it is never too late.

It is ok if you do not know what you want to do with your life… hell … I am still trying to figure that out (maybe I will ALWAYS be trying to figure that out). The fact of the matter is that we are constantly changing, so why do we seem to think that we cannot change our careers as well? Is it because we have worked so hard to build up our careers in the first place? But how does that help anyone if YOU are not happy? Hard work and determination will ALWAYS pay off no matter what your current situation is, you just need to stay focused and keep your eyes on the prize. Each individual has the power to succeed and if you believe that your environment is holding you back … just think of it as an obstacle that no one else has had to face, and will make you a stronger person because of it! In order to make this work for you, you need to figure out what you are good at and build on those skills rather than spend too much time trying to fix what needs fixing. It is completely fine if your superpower is saving people’s lives in the emergency room, or putting up buildings, just as long as you are not being forced into that profession.

When I was in high school I had a friend who was a well rounded student, and she was good at EVERYTHING. When high school was nearing an end we were talking about what our plans were for the future. Her interests were within the art field. However, her parents wanted her to become a pediatrician. She was to spend the next few years of her life working hard toward THAT goal .. her parent’s dream. I have since lost touch with this friend, but I hope she is happy with the decision she has made … who knows, maybe she is still doing art on the side. This friend of mine made the choice to listen to what her parents wanted of her to do, but she did not take the time to examine her superpower. Her passion was art, not sick little kids! This one story is a reflection of where we can go wrong by trying to pick our superpower and not maximizing on our natural talents.  

So, how do you figure out what your super power is? … You get out there and do things you thought you would NEVER do, live a little and step out of your comfort zone. Even travel to a place you have never been before. I have never met anyone who did not benefit from the experience of venturing into the unknown, there is always something to be gained. A few months back I took a job at a marketing firm, I had NEVER done anything like this before. It was completely new to me, but I soon realized that this was not for me. I am grateful for the experience, I learned a lot and met some great people in the process. In the end, I could not see myself being happy at this job … this fortunately was NOT my superpower. If I did not step out of my comfort zone to take this job, I would not have known that this was NOT my cup of tea. This experience left me room to grow so I could find my strong suit.

You will always be able to come up with excuses as to why you should not do something .. but what if … and only IF, you decide to step out of your reality, you might find something, universe forbid, that you enjoy! :O What if this one thing altered your universe for the better? You will become a happier person and develop a purpose for living, and will be surrounded by people who mean the world to you. SO, do it! No more “what if's” or “but’s.” That is what a SUPERPOWER feels like.

~Find yo’ POWER!