kitewithfish

norah - Top five things you would tell your 25-year-old self

5. "You'll get better at this." Fundamentally, a lot of the worries I had at age 25 were about being bad at being around other people. The short version is that I got better at it - I figured out how to make conversation and chat and also when it wasn't worth it. Overall, I hate the implication that older=wiser, as we have all fallen into company with an old fool at least once. But for the most part, yeah, I got better at all the things I was worried about, compared to myself at 25.

4. "You're allowed to quit." I have quit so many things! So many things I did not want to be doing are now out of my life! It's amazing.

3. "You're allowed to start and restart things." I have spent so much stupid wasting time trying to figure out how to start doing something without looking stupid, and now I am so happy to look stupid and admit that I don't know what I'm doing. It's great. Starting things is so hard, give yourself time to be a bit shit at things. You're always going to hate something because it's new - keep going.

2. "You don't have to earn help. You can just ask for it." I am still working on this. I would not have been able to hear it at age 25, but I would have needed it, and I still need the reminder.

1. "Take lots of pictures of yourself naked. Lots." Look. I really enjoy my body, it's a good body, I am taking care of it. But I'm a ways out from 25 and I truly deeply did not know how hot I was because I was comparing myself to other people, and now I am comparing myself to past me, and I would like to have some proof. I would like some souvenirs of how the terrain used to look!