Try writing a letter giving advice to yourself when you were younger. It works best if you're over 18.

It reveals interesting patterns of behavior and can make you feel better. I included mine below.

Dear Me at Age 10,

This is a letter from you when you are 42. I know it seems impossible for you to receive this. Don’t show it to other people, they’ll want to know how it is possible. How do you know I am telling the truth? I will say something only you know: 88888

That brings up [younger brother]. He takes things much harder than you might imagine. Don’t throw a broomstick at his head like a spear, and don’t poke at him in the tree with the flag holder. It will hurt his eye.

Love [dog] as much as you can.

Don’t listen to Dad when he tells you how bad Mom is. Dad has wacky ideas and says all kinds of idiotic stuff because he is stuck on insecurities from his own childhood. If you can, encourage him to go to psychotherapy, lots of it. Don’t let him leave home and don’t let him divorce Mom.

Dad wants to live out his dreams through you. That’s how he is, he’s a “jockstrap”: he doesn’t like to do things himself, he prefers to think up things for other people to do and tag along basking in the glory pretending it is him. Don’t let him decide for you what to do. Even if you don’t know what you want to do, just choose something and move forward, you can always switch after a year or two. It is okay not to know early on, you’ll figure out something.

You are a good person, but remember that your happiness in life will come from interacting with other people so value them, even if sometimes they seem stupid.

If Mom and Dad do get divorced, tell Dad not to get involved with M----, and Mom to be pickier.

Don’t worry about being short in high school, or thin – you’ll grow up to be tall and muscular. Give yourself credit, too – you’re hot and you don’t know it. If you like team sports, keep playing them even if you’re not good – with practice everything gets better and you are great at practicing things you love, plus you turn into a pretty gifted person physically.

Be really honest. Don’t have sex with girls just to have sex with them, you deserve to be interested in what’s going on & be in love.

Follow your questions & don’t feel like you have to complete everything you started if it turns out maybe it’s not so neat after you get to know it better. Give everything at least a year or two, but it’s okay to have probationary periods. This is especially true of deciding to get married to --------.

Don’t go to [graduate school] just because that’s what you decided to do. Dad encouraged you more than you know in that. When you start thinking about investment banking, it’s okay to try that. Also, it’s okay to stay at [first college] – if you find things you love, stick with them, at least until you don’t love them anymore. It’s okay to just be happy, even if the rest of the world wonders why you’re not dominating the universe.

Insist on good stuff for yourself. When Dad doesn’t want to heat your room in the winter, tell him it’s not acceptable and that you want him to fix the heating system. Also, don’t be shy – tell Mom and Dad exactly what you want, that you want Levi’s jeans. And don’t let Dad switch you out of [private middle school] because he’s cheap, or switch you from one school to another. That’s where you make friends you keep for the rest of your life, so make sure to pay attention to that. If you didn’t get this already, Dad’s got problems that he doesn’t really understand, but he doesn’t understand the value of other human beings or friendships or emotions, at least not yet, and you do, so don’t listen to him and think for yourself.

Stay in one place for a while. Don’t feel like it’s important to move to always be at the “best” place. There are lots of good places. It’s more important to have people’s support, and that will come from staying in one high quality place where people get to know you. Don’t let Dad have you go to [college] instead of Harvard because he is cheap and doesn’t want to pay tuition. Dad makes lots of money and can afford it, especially back then. And you are definitely good enough to be at a place like that, you are one of the best students in the country.

Life is a moving target. Advice at 10 is different from 15 and from 20 or 25 or 30, because the decisions we made then lead to different places.

Don’t date girls who have been raped at a really early age or don’t like their fathers. They’ll transfer all that hate and confusion to you. This includes [ex-wife]. Don’t date women who don’t come when you have intercourse with them. Have sex 5 or 10 times, and it’s still not happening, and it’s someone you really like so it should be happening, say goodbye. That will be hard but much easier than what comes later.

Dear me at age 13,

Hey you. It's me. Wanted to drop you a line to give you a heads up from the future. I know you don't like knowing what's going to happen because you like to create your future so I'll leave that shit out. Here are some things I think you should know that will help accelerate your spiritual path. I'll act as the mentor that I know you are looking for right now.

1) Books that will affect you deeply: Infinite Self; Journey of Souls; Remains of the Day; The Prophet; Way of the Peaceful Warrior; The Power of Now

2) You are right to be skeptical about your religion. It's okay to stay there for now if you are enjoying the company. The church leaders will never truly answer your questions. The books mentioned above will help.

3) Love yourself unconditionally. Trust yourself. You are being too hard on yourself when you screw up. It is dad's fault but don't dwell on it. Learn from it and move on. The sooner you can learn this the easier things will become.

4) Fuck the people that don't 'get' you and think you are weird. Continue looking for those that mirror your current values. They are harder to find but don't give up looking and you'll feel much better when you find them. Dad is wrong again. You don't have to worry about pleasing the assholes of the world. There are positive and negative people in all areas. Look for the positive ones.

OPTIONAL: If you want, you can write a letter to mom. If you aren't ready, don't worry, you'll do it eventually. In the letter tell her how it felt when she passed, how it felt growing up without her, and how you feel now.

Okay, that should be enough for you to chew on. I know it's a lot. Don't stress about doing it all at one time. Take your time and enjoy the moment!

Love,
Your future self

Man, I'd send caprice's letter to myself. And this one:

Dear self,

First, some general advice: Go ahead and start screwing off when you're a teenager - you're gonna do it anyway when you hit your 20s. Its fun. Have some fun. Stop being serious all the time. Stop worrying so much about what is next and enjoy the good parts of your now. You're going to make a lot of mistakes. A lot. But none of them will be as bad as you think they are. Don't waste so much time trying to fit in. Just keep hunting for the misfits. Tell your dad you want to go backpacking instead of playing baseball.

Now for some specifics. I'm not gonna tell you too much because I like the way we turned out and if I warned you off everything we wouldn't end up this way. HOWEVER, there are a few things. First, kiss the blond girl when you get the chance. Second, let the boy kiss you. Third, I know it seems like a good idea at the time, but you end up having to share an office with her. Don't.

For the rest, you're on your own. Good luck, Godspeed, may the wind be at your back and all that.

Sincerely,

Me

PS A master's might have sufficed. Jury's still out on this one, but we'll let you know.

PPS this "internet" thing that you saw over at Chris's house is gonna be huge. It'll need to be searchable somehow. Figure it out. Give it a catchy name, maybe something like "zoogle" or "noogle" or something...

Posted By krysty2 on 06 May 2011 11:29 AM
Dear lil me,

No feeling is permanent, and when ur feeling down, there's an up right around the corner, trust me... Appriciate every moment, and youth is one of the most beautiful things..Please do not be so hard on yourself..Just have fun(well maybe i should say have less fun lol). You ARE beautiful (trust me), and you are blessed..Dad is a great guy..And you will thank him for pushing your dumb rebelous non self worth having ass. Pay a lil more attention in school (actually forget that, you arent ready yet) Mom is mom, she isnt going to change, she loves you unconditionally so just shut up and deal with her craziness..I really don't wanna warn you from things, even though it is gonna be rough..Just ride it out..It gives you courage and love, and in the end thats is what life is all about.But remember your self worth in this world, and cut down on the drinking damn it...Lastly..and I don't know if this is even right..Go through with getting your wisdom teeth taken out the FIRST time, but if you do not dont remember the night u were supposed to get it done, that kid in the blue shirt is NOOOOOO GOOD!!! RUN HOME!!!! LOL ugh i hate to even tell u that...but im goin on a limb here DOOR NUMBER 2 lets effin try it ...Other than that trust your gut feelings and at least try to follow the, (i know you won't) PSSSHHHTTT, your probably reading this now like "BOOORRRIIINNNGGG""Depending on which mood ur reading this in.. I could write a novel trying to perfect your steps, but ur just the type of person who learns through tough ass kickin experience...So suck it up kid, its gonna be a bumpy ride!!!!! I LOVE YOU !!

PS: You really don't know shit, the universe is like the ocean and we get to learn (if we r lucky) a drop of it....