What if you could go back in time and give advice to your teenage self? What would you tell them? Do you have any regrets that you would hope to resolve? In this video, Evan, our resident and mental health therapist, answers this very question he got from a follower and shares the advice he would give to his younger self, similar to what he advises his therapy clients on.
If I could go back and talk to my 16 year old self, what advice would I give? All the advice really whittles down to one general topic. And that's facing your fear and challenging your anxiety.
If something piques your interest, go for it. Especially if it pushes you outside of your comfort zone. These are learning experiences, and it's better to try and fail than to have regrets about it. When you stay within yourcomfort zone, you keep your world small.
Now, I get a lot of questions from followers, but I have to admit, this one really took me aback. It was personal, and I really had to think about it. And that question is, if I could go back and talk to my 16 year old self, what advice would I give? And when I thought about it, I realized that all the advice really whittles down to one general topic. And that's facing your fear and challenging your anxiety. All right, so here are the five pieces of advice I'd give myself, or really anyone in a similar situation.
Now, number 1 may seem counterintuitive, but it's essentially to embrace regrets. It's okay to wish you had done something different. There is nothing wrong with that. It's how we learn. Number two is to stay curious. If something piques your interest, go for it. Especially if it pushes you outside of your comfort zone. Whether it's joining improv or a sport you are wanting to do, it's never too late to try it. And even if it doesn't work out, you're going to feel braver and you're going to be stronger for doing it.
Number three, when you're feeling anxious, it's okay to pause and ask yourself, what's the worst that could happen? How probable is it that this worst case scenario would happen? And if it did, would I be able to recover and get to the other side? And the answer is almost invariably yes. Number four is, it's okay to embrace failure. These are learning experiences, and it's better to try and fail than to have regrets about it. So whether it's leaving that unfulfilling job and starting that entrepreneurial venture that you were trying to do, or maybe it's leaving a relationship that's not fulfilling.
It's better to take action than to do nothing and regret it later. Number five. And my last piece of advice is, when you stay within your comfort zone, you keep your world small. It's important to always push the boundaries of your comfort zone. You don't have to go too far over. But the more you gradually push, your world gets bigger and more and more possibilities open up that you never thought possible. So if you could give any words of wisdom to your younger self, what would you say?
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