I knew what I wanted to wear for this post. I just didn’t know what I wanted to write about so I looked up some topic ideas. A simple Pinterest search will give you some blog post inspiration. One of the topics was to write a letter to your younger self. That would go along the lines of this: Don’t date that person because you will end up hurt or listen to your mom because she is ALWAYS RIGHT…
However, I don’t think my letter to my younger self would go that direction if I wrote a letter.
Regrets Are Mistakes You Can Fix
Regrets… I remember my mom’s friend telling me once that she didn’t have any regrets in life. I remember thinking wow! That’s amazing. I also remember my dad asking me if I had any regrets in my life… I was really young at this time. I shook my head and asked if he did. I don’t think he ever responded but told me to keep living life with no regrets.
Regrets happen when we don’t look at mistakes as learning opportunities.
I know I’ve really messed up in life when I have a feeling of regret because that means I FEEL like don’t have an opportunity to 1. learn from the mistake or 2. redeem or fix the mistake… There’s also a third meaning that I have found: 3. I can fix the mistake and learn from it, but I choose not to because of pride or embarrassment.
So if your letter to your younger self is full of ways to avoid mistakes maybe you have a few regrets that you wish you would have avoided. Regrets are mistakes that you can redeem or fix. This is super hard to do. That’s why my second point is having a positive mindset. There is hope. Everything is redeemable.
Optimistic Mindset
My mom’s friend is one of those people who is always smiling. So when she said she liked every season of her life I believe it. How much of that is personality or perspective? For some reason what she said stuck out to me. Her words made me desire to have a life without any regrets. If I make a mistake I tell myself well, never doing that again… (I say this often). And if I make a decision I ask myself, “will I regret this later”?
My optimistic-self says, “let’s make this better, do better and be better next time”… My pessimistic-self says “I am the worst. I screwed up. I will regret that the rest of my life”. Pessimism is “we are past the point of no return”. Optimism is “everything is redeemable”.
A Letter to My Younger Self
What would I write to my younger self? I think back to my younger self and I sometimes wish I had that naive confidence. I would say,
“You were right to make those big life jumps. To make those mistakes, because you will learn from them and make some more. Everything you learned about love, about relationships, about careers you won’t regret… and the best way to learn is by falling on your face, trusting the wrong person, trying something you aren’t that great at. Do it all with the goal to be a better person in the end. Don’t regret it, redeem it. You can learn from each mistake. This being said, trust your gut, go for it.”
-Future Self
Outfit Details:
My dress today is from Anthropologie. I know. It looks so vintage chic. The colors are red, pink and white. My boots are perfect for fall/winter. I bought them on sale at Zara.
Hey hope you have a full color day!
xoxoxox Hannah Lynn
Gingham Shift Dress
Rolling Hills Shift Dress
Pointed Heeled Boots
Over the Knee
Heeled Fabric Boots
Anthro Shift Dress
Hannah is a radio/podcast host, blogger, and mental health therapist who loves Jesus and fashion. Her work revolves around betrayal trauma and the eldest daughter population.
