…what I know now.
If you now had a chance to talk to you then (five, ten, twenty years ago), what incredibly vital and profound piece of advice would you give to your younger self? And at what age?
If I could, I’d tell myself at 15 to quit worrying about what other people thought of me and to never never never start smoking. Altho’ knowing who I was then, I have to doubt that I would have listened.
Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to
pound in the correct screw.
I’d tell me to get off my ass and do my homework, so I could get a good scholarship. And that sometimes introspection can be the most freeing thing a person can do for themselves.
Habit rules the unreflecting herd. - Wordsworth
Buy Wal-Mart.
That it just doesn’t matter: whatever it is your worried about, the world isn’t going to come to an end (and if it does, then whatever your worried about doesn’t matter nearly as much as the world coming to an end).
-I would have told myself that everyone feels like an idiot when they are 13 (if it was 10 years ago), not to worry about what other people think and to enjoy being a teenager, as hard as it sounds. That someday, although you don’t see it now, you are going to meet up with many, many bad people (especially men, sorry guys), that some of them are disguised as nice and some are openly evil. Not to let it embitter you, remain compassionate and sensitive and know that it is these people who are losing out in the long run, even though they will hurt you like no pain you though possible.
-If it was 5 years ago I would’ve said that there are some REALLY tough times coming but that you are strong enough to make it and try not to lose hope. That and there is no shame in confessing that you need help dealing with some things (I still have trouble with that to this day). That not everyone can make it through the things that are coming, but I will. 
The worst thing you can do is mess up.
– Sylence
If a bird doesn’t sing, I’ll wait until it sings.
I would tell my 18-year-old self to avoid years of heartache and not date that total loser I dated for more than three years.
But my 18-year-old self was in love with him, so she wouldn’t listen to me. God knows, she didn’t listen to her family or friends.
Jodi
Fiat Justitia
Yeah that and to start buying stocks in corporations that I know will fly. 
I’d go back to Dec. 29, 1978, and tell myself to for god’s sake NOT eat the shrimp creole that David was bringing over!
Cool! That’s only 12 days after I was born!
. . . And I will never forgive you for that.
JMCJ
This is not a sig.
At 23, I would have told myself to run screaming into the streets and never look back the second that Bob-person walked into my life… Dear GOD, what was I thinking? Eleven years of my life WASTED. Of course, I also believe that in manny instances, things happen for a reason. If I hadn’t spent so manny bad years with that man, I might never have met (or even recognized) the utterly amazing man in my life today…
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.”
See, the thing is, I’m only 18, so I’d only go back 3 years and tell my 15 year old self to stick with only one girl at a time, because believe it or not, cheating becomes a bad habit.
Stupid people surround themselves with smart people. Smart people surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them. - Isaac Jaffee
I would tell myself as a teenager;
Discover the person who is inside of you.
Don’t follow along blindly just because you idolize the man.
Explore all your options before settling.
Ask questions.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
So what was wrong with it?
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
David had left the shrimp out on the counter overnight “to defrost.”
He and Laura and Keith and I were so sick that to this day none of us can look at shrimp creole . . .
I would have told myself at age 13:
“Darlin, if in the pit of your stomach there is ferocious pain after making a decision, please, for heaven sake make another!”
I’m in a serious dilemma here because in the last ten years I went through both the best times and the worst times in my life. The dilemma is that they were two sides of the same coin. I couldn’t have avoided the pain and still enjoyed the pleasure. I’m a much more complete and, I think, better person for having gone through it. If there were a way to gain the wisdom without the experience then it would make sense to go back and do things differently. But I don’t believe the world works that way.
So if I could go back ten years and pour wisdom in my ears I’d do it, but if all I could do was talk then I don’t believe 1) I would listen and 2) I would try to convince myself to miss it.
Mrs. Pluto and I reminisce on this frequently: We’re glad to be where we are but we surely disliked the process. But neither of us can see any other way of having gotten to where we are.
There are a couple of specific incidents I’d like to have avoided, though. Maybe I’d have been smart enough to listen to that much advice.
Oh, and I would have replaced the radiator in my truck years earlier.
I would go back twelve years and tell my 19-year-old self that not everyone is going to like me and that’s okay.
Years of pain and frustration could have been avoided.