My letter to a littler misfit.

by

This post is in no way original (it’s been done by many others as ‘a letter to my younger self’). 

This post was entirely sparked by the Tornado.   It was, in roundabout way, her idea.

It’s a reminder when we think little eyes & ears are NOT paying attention they are (“Mama I know that shirt! That’s the same shirt from the long time ago picture!!”). 

It’s a reminder I sorely needed no matter how much peers have influence we, adult types, have more (“Do you remember being little like that? Were you the same like now? Tell me! Tell me!”). 

Or so Im praying choosing to believe.

 

 

(In the mountains of North Carolina after 9 days camping & climbing)

Dear littler me,

You’re twenty three.

And yeah.

You’re pretty damn proud of yourself. 

You’ve graduated from college (None too auspiciously though.  Someday you’ll regret the fact you “read” 4 or 5 novels the night before many of your major’s exams.  Not only could you have done far better in school, but you’ll end up re-purchasing and REALLY reading all the books later anyway.).

You’ve lost the beer, pizza & junk food weight and are in that LOOK AT ME! I HAVE BABY MUSCLES!! stage.

The great news is you’re able to maintain the loss.  The not-so-good news is it will take you eons of removing foods & tweaking consumption to learn you cant tolerate gluten. 

If you could see your way to relinquishing some of your beloved processed crap (Hello Snackwells you consume by the boxfull) this process would unfold far more smoothly.

Real foods.  Sans labels. 

Easy enough to say—will take you lots and LOTS of trial & error to realize.

Oh, and  that Susan Powter & her baked potatoes & bread by the loaves? She’s not really your friend.  That’s what will both make you feel terrible & look skinnyfat very soon.

Meditation and silence is what your body really needs and what will make you healthy inside & out.

Slow down.  Make time to notice and pay attention to what & who surrounds you.

You know the hike you took before this photo was taken?  The one where you whined the entire way?

PAY ATTENTION to the joke the boy (BTW you dont marry him) youre camping with made.

The one about hiking being G-d’s stairmaster.

He has a point. 

Go outside more. Pay attention to what your body is asking for.  It’s not the stairmaster. 

Notice nature.  Dont constantly distract yourself *from* yourself.

The silence can & will be scary and deafening, but the sooner you do it the sooner you’ll discover what you seek is inside of you.

And stop telling everyone you can take or leave getting married and motherhood.

You end up doing both and finding by ‘limiting’ yourself (as you now refer to it) you grow more than you could ever imagine.

You become more yourself than ever before.

Lastly, but VERY importantly, get yourself another one (or 3) of those fleece tank-tops. 

You depart the frigid east coast for Texas (shocking I realize) and count among your few life-regrets you never snagged more.  They make the perfect Texas winter attire.

xo,

Your older, wiser, far happier & comfortable in our skin self

 

(The Tornado set up the post-workout photo-op. M&Ms bag, no shower, random locale & all.)

 

As frequently happens with thematic blog posts, Im *way* late to the letter to my younger self soiree.
Have you blogged about this topic already?

PLEASE leave your link in the comments. I’d love to read the post.

Blog-free or simply not done this yet?

What wisdom would you share with your younger self?

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Comments

  4. Miz you made me laugh with the Susan Powter reference.
    I used to eat potatoes by the bushel because of her.

    I love your letter and the pictures.

  6. Love! Favorite line:Slow down. Make time to notice and pay attention to what & who surrounds you. I want to remind current me and little me of this fact. I also really enjoy the fact that you still have the tank- rocks!

  9. LOL at the Snackwells and Susan Powter. I managed to gain a lot of weight eating Snackwells because they *were* fat free after all!

    I need to do this, and I could probably stand to write a letter to my current self.

  10. The thing that strikes me about this post is the simplistic beauty of it. Of course I’ve seen similar ones, but yours drew me in. Perhaps it just means I’m ready to write my own. I’ve given thought to it before but never articulated it.

    As Lori says above, a note to my current Self would be quite useful as well.

    Thanks for this today!

  12. The fact that you still have the shirt is impressive!! I don’t think I have any original clothing from my early 20’s EXCEPT my powerlifting belt if that counts!!

    Beautiful piece 🙂 A lot of people get stuck and never evolve beyond their 20’s, you’ve come a long way!!

  13. First, how do you get so many comments so early in the morning? 🙂

    I really liked this post and the glimpse into your life before MizFit.

  16. I love how you point out our children are always watching.

    Has she asked you to wear the fleece tank top yet?
    Everything I own my five year old is asking to borrow these days 🙂

  19. Love this idea for a post! I too would tell my younger self to avoid gluten and pretty much all things processed and sugar filled. You totally took me back to about 1995 with the Snackwells reference. I swear those were the most addictive food ever.

  23. Carla – loved!!!!!! I have not done this but maybe I should although it is kinda scary – yes, I said the S word! 😉 Being 54 & now can say I am i year shy of 55, when you get to this age & the fact that your life is closer to the end than the beginning, all those little things you thought were useless or stupid & the joke from kid you are camping with and the smile of a friend or family member and just being with people & laughing.. all those little things we may tend to forget about or care not enough about DO become the things that matter & we find that out too late. I wish I could make younger people understand that but they are like me when I was young & say they have plenty of time.. the prob, before they know it, they are 54!

    Thx Carla – great post!

  25. Are you sure, Carla, that this is a letter to Little You and not a letter to ME? OMG, I can STILL relate to so much of that. Especially the SnackWells, which, recently since being sick and in pain, I practically LIVE off of.

  29. This is a great theme, whether done before or not. Look what you have accomplished in those years! And while we all might choose to do things differently, the process of getting to today has loads of value, which you clearly get.

  31. This is great. Love the part about nature’s stair climber! I can hike til my legs fall off but I HATE the stairmaster in the gym – my mental block over climbing to infinity is overcome outdoors by wanting to get to the view at the top.

    I’m still pretty young but I still have things that I wish I would have known (or been open to knowing) when I was younger. At least we can reflect back and can see how much we have grown – that is so important. Letter or no letter, that reflection is essential. Thanks for sharing yours!

  32. i’ve thought about this but also just haven’t done it. i have so much i would tell my younger self, but mostly it would come back to stop berating your body and start loving it for what it can do

  38. But Miz…a fleece tank top would be so super easy to make!! Cut it out and sew it up!! Or is it some super special fleece which one could not get from the local Walmart? Is it lined? Gosh, now my creative sewing juices are flowing – hmmm…

    I’m afraid a letter to my younger self would be something along the lines of “ARE YOU NUTS??” 🙂

  42. I think I’m still too young to write this. I’ve been learning lessons for a few years, but I don’t think I’ve come to any conclusions yet. Although I might tell younger self to live a little and kiss a few more people. 🙂

  44. Every birthday, I always think “Would 10 years ago me be proud of myself?” Ever since I hit 26, it’s been a more and more resounding YES.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged it at some time or another, but I’m too lazy to link search :D. If I could give one piece of advice to myself it would be…

    “You have great ideas. Have faith in them. You know what you want to do. Go for it. If you want something, be fearless, be relentless, be patient, and be kind to yourself if it doesn’t work out the first time. The only failure is giving up on a dream you still dream. Asking other people for help and advice does not mean you’re weak, and it doesn’t generally annoy… you may not be able to figure out everything yourself, and that’s ok.”

    If I could have learned earlier just to ASK for what I want/advice/guidance rather than spinning my own wheels trying to figure it out, and be patient when everything I wanted didn’t come to me right away even if I thought I deserved it, I would have saved myself a lot of pain. 🙂

    …considering the fact that I’m rambling on about it, maybe it’s time for an updated blog post soon…

  47. I’m only 21 and have lived lots in my years.
    I would love to have a talk with my 13 year old self.

  48. This post is FANTASTIC!!! I have a lot to say to my younger self, but it would end with “don’t regret what you did – just know all of your (good and bad) choices will shape you into the person you grow to be. PS: Put down the karaoke microphone on your 30th birthday – trust me on this one, just put it down and walk away!” HAve a great, regret-less day Miz!!

  50. Oh miz… How your letter made me cry. But totally in a good way.

    I have yet to write a letter to my younger self. I’m not sure which “me” I would write to. What I would say? Am I ready to go there? Am I comfortable enough to EVEN go there?

    Time will tell…

  52. Hey! How nice to see you on my blog! 😀 Discovering that gluten connection is life-changing, isn’t it? Now if I could just act like I mean that statement by not sneaking “just a little”, it’d be great.

    Loved this post. Some real wisdom gems here.

    Deb

  53. I think I still need to get a letter like this …. What I would like is for my 60 year-old self to send me a letter saying that my kids will make it through adolescence/young adulthood in one piece and (while I’m doing some wishful thinking) find a calling that makes them happy and, hopefully, lets them pay their own rent.

  55. You kept the shirt!! I love it! And I love the letter to little you too. This: “Meditation and silence is what your body really needs and what will make you healthy inside & out.” was my fave part and something I wish that I could have known when I was 23 as well. Recently I found some letters that my 16-yr-old self had written to my 2010 self. It was… heartbreaking. I wish I could go back and give that girl a big hug.

  57. Love the idea! I think I may have to do that soon. Ugh, but I wonder if my younger self is going to like what I have to say! :}
    Thanks for visiting my blog!
    Comfy McGee everyday for me!!

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  59. There are many things I would tell my much younger self, but the number one thing I would tell her is TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG! It’s hard to get back to where you were when you “thought” you were fat and really weren’t!

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