I attended the Whatcom Women in Business event a few weeks back (congratulations to Lydia Place director for the win). The question they asked all the nominees was: “What advice would you give your younger self?” There were some funny responses (“Dump that guy!“) and some serious responses (“Study harder. It makes a difference.“) All of the answers were interesting. Then, I saw Cupcakes & Cashmere’s post and got inspired to do my own. To be clear, I am thankful for every twisted turn and every difficult thing that has ever happened to me because it led me here, with a life, a family and a business I love. Even with that gratitude firmly in place, there are still lessons learned to share with others to hopefully save some pain and shortcut a few of those learning lessons.
Making melt and pour back in the day. =)
Advice to my 20 year old self:
1.) You are the sum total of the 5 people you spend the most time with. I had a lot of friends in my 20s. Some of them I’m still best friends with today and find value and inspiration in their company. And some of them drifted away as we grew apart. There’s one friend who I loved binge watching DVDs of 90210 with while eating Doritos and Oreos. We never got out of our sweatpants. I outgrew this phase. If you don’t want to be turn into the habit, quit hanging out with the person that enables the habit. Hang out with people who drive you to be better, who you admire and who lead lives that you would be proud to trade with. Go outside, take the sweatpants off and make some new friends.
