Dear Younger Self

If you could speak to your younger self from your current age, what would you tell yourself? Would you tell yourself not to date the star of your high school basketball team? That 19 shots of Apple McCormick vodka on your 19th birthday won’t be a good idea? Or, don’t go looking for love in all the wrong places?

There are moments in my life when I think about the decisions that young Tiff made. I often wonder: What would the 34 year old Tiff say to the 17 or 18 year old Tiff?

This is a letter I wrote to my younger self. Writing this letter was ironically very therapeutic. It brought me back to that young, shy girl that thought she had life figured out.

Dear Younger Self,

You are phenomenal. You’re beautiful, smart, and witty with a great sense of humor and an unmatched personality.  I know there are moments when you feel quite the contrary. You hate the sound of your voice, you’re painfully shy, you wish your hair was straighter and you realize that you aren’t developing as fast as the other girls.

But, this is what I know for sure: You don’t have to conform to society’s idealistic definition of beauty. Baby, you are a 10 out of 10! Why are you trying to be a carbon copy when you were made to be an original? One day your natural curls will be celebrated! Your voice will mature, and you’ll create a platform that will allow you to use that voice to touch millions of people. And Victoria Secret’s push up bras will become your new BFF.

Your college experience will be a time of growth, maturity and learning how to prepare ramen noodles in the microwave. You will lose friends, boyfriends and several jobs. Jobs and people will unfortunately have expiration dates. But these relationships and experiences will create fundamental lessons that will serve you for the rest of your life.

And lastly, forgive yourself from all the “poor” decisions you have made with money. You did the best you could with the knowledge and tools that you were given. As your level of consciousness expands, the better decisions you will make for your finances. Fear, shame and anger will dissipate, and your life will begin to flow effortlessly.

So, what would you tell your younger self? This is what I know for sure. There is no such thing as coincidences. Every moment in our life happens in divine order. I believe changing even a minuscule portion of our life would change the entire trajectory of it. Sure, there are some things you would’ve done differently, but every failed relationship, bad job, negative bank account balance and eviction