10 Pieces of Advice for 18-Year-Old Me, from Me Today

If I only knew then what I know now.  I look around the city this time of year, and I’m surrounded by kids and young adults moving from one place in life to another — graduations, weddings, new jobs, new careers – transitions in life are happening. Newness is erupting. I wish someone would have given my own 18-year-old self a little bit more advice than I got. If it’s useful for you, I hope you take these little suggestions and run wild with them!

My top 10 Pieces of advice for anyone who wants them

1. Get Rid of Your Smartphone! If you value your happiness, freedom, and autonomy – get rid of it. That evil demon of time-suck will reign supreme over your life — it’s addictive and designed to be so. Resist the urge to be plugged in ALL. THE. TIME. and spend more time making friends, connecting with people eye to eye. 

2. Love often and hard. Love everything you can. Stop playing it safe and small with love, go deep. Go wide. Let yourself be open to partners, friends, colleagues, pets, and eventually, one of the biggest loves of your life, your wee babes.

3. Speaking of love, adopt more beasts! Start now. Start soon. When you surround yourself with animals, you surround yourself with instant, devotional love. The kind of love that will rip your heart out over and over again. It’s a unique, almost biological love. It’s a body love. Let yourself have it, and give it. Yes, they will only be with you for a fraction of your lifetime but the love is worth it. Take it from me who has lost 4 animal soul loves in the last several years. I vowed never to adopt another pet again. Too much pain when we have to say goodbye to each other.  But then I realized that I was being selfish. These animals need us to care for them. Love them.  Play with them and love them. It’s not about you.  Yes, they take work and time, and energy but what you get back is priceless. And timeless. I just adopted a new beast in the form of a horse named Mick. 

4. Don’t wait for ANYTHING. It will never be the “right” time, just go for it! Including adopting a pet. 

5. Passion First – Build a career and a life centered around your passion. Endeavor to pursue something that tickles your belly, that lights you up from the inside. Don’t listen to the people who doubt you, listen to dreamers and the doers – don’t let anyone come between you and the slow burn of your calling.

6. Learn TM (transcendental meditation) RIGHT NOW.

7. Dance! You know that internal instinct you have inside your body that begs you to move? Follow it, don’t repress it. Move, dance, swirl, twirl, cha-cha, salsa, any and every chance you get. Let your body run free!

8. Don’t watch rectangular boxes of any kind unless the box has a colony of ants living in it. And then adopt the colony of beasts and take loving care of them. (see above number 3)

9. Laugh- Let yourself laugh really, really hard as often as you can at anything and everything, especially yourself.

10. Become a Fear Tamer.  Fear is the modern-day version of a fire-breathing dragon. Calm it. Soothe it. Move through it and it will become yet another amazing beast for you to adopt and that beast’s new name is courage!

Have at it.  Dive head first into deep waters of life.  You’ve only got this one shot that we know of in this one body.