20 Things I Wish My Younger Self Knew...

In the Tree House: Twenty things I wish my younger self knew

By: Samantha S. Daviss

I am hoping I am only about half way through my life, if not a little bit shy of half way. I want to live a long full life, and be around to see my boys grow old, and to meet my grandbabies. I know at my age, I seem so young to many; but so old to others. But to be honest, I love where I am in life. I am old enough to be taken seriously and not looked at as a kid any more, but not so old that when I talk and spout out my ideas, people think I am losing my mind.

We all say that if “We knew then, what we know now…life would be so much easier.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement. There is so much pettiness that drives teenage girls crazy, and bullying that can ruin a young boy’s life; or just the pressure to be the best athlete, the best student, the best EVERYTHING.

We need to learn to love and accept ourselves for who we are; not what others think of us. So I came up with a partially serious, partially funny list of things I wish my younger self had known; and if I had done these things as a young adult, my life would still have turned out pretty well.

       1)     Don’t be so hard on yourself;
              2)    Love yourself for who you are, not who you think others should love;
       3)   Find your guilty pleasure, and make it your own. Don’t worry what others think about it, because                  remember it’s YOUR guilty pleasure;
       4)   Indulge yourself. Find your Achilles Heel, and act upon it. You don’t have to do it often, but indulge…it          makes life so much more fun;
       5)   Love hard, love true, and love deeply….regardless of the outcome. Your heart may get broken…but            true love is worth the pain;
       6)   If you’re heart gets broken, you won’t die…I promise. Just don’t put walls up, learn to love again…              your true love is truly out there;
       7)    Smell your baby’s head every chance you get. The younger me would have thought this was nuts, but it          is the best smell in the entire world;
       8)       Skinny dip somewhere at least once in your life;
       9)       Have a little wine with your whine time…always make time for your friends and get stuff off your chest;
      10)     Challenge yourself;
      11)     Pack a bag and just take off for a quick weekend away, at least once in your life…without planning it,           without an itinerary, just on a whim;
            12)   Remember who your younger self once was, don’t lose sight of your dreams;
      13)   Stay strong, stay healthy, stay flexible, and start eating right in your 20's…because your family needs               you to be healthy. Start good habits young;
          14)   Buy good bras, good shoes, and good underwear…the rest is just cosmetic;
      15)  Watch the sun set and the sunrise, preferably in the same cycle…while having a great conversation with         someone you care about;
      16)   Have a pet…that unconditional love everyday you come home is priceless;
      17)  Do what you want with your life, not what you think society expects of you;
      18)   Learn to change a tire, change your oil, and to shoot a gun;
      19)  Volunteer (anywhere), but in particular…at a hospital, children’s cancer ward, a VA hospital, or a food        kitchen…you’ll be so appreciative of the gift you’ve been given…a wonderful, healthy life;
            20) Don’t spread a rumor about someone unless you are a good enough friend to pick up the                  phone and ask them if it’s the truth.

You may agree, or completely disagree with any or all of the things I wrote on my list, but if you disagree; take the time to think about what you would have told your younger self if you had been given the opportunity to give a little guidance to that acne-covered, skinny, insecure blob of a teenager we all once were.

Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

In the Tree House: Break Out of your Comfort Zone

By: Samantha S. Daviss

Sometimes “comfortable” can be a good thing. We are comfortable in our homes, we are comfortable with a particular group of friends, we are comfortable with our favorite flavor of coffee. But sometimes “comfortable” can be detrimental to us. Sometimes too comfortable can make us complacent in our lives, our relationships, and how we treat others.

So do one thing this week or even this month to really make yourself step outside your comfort zone; go beyond your daily ritual. Change something, stop doing a bad habit, or start doing a good habit.

For example, in creating a good habit, if you are one of those people that go through life on a daily basis and rarely call and check on your friends, just because…do it! People always like to know they are being thought of, and cared about, even if from a distance. It only takes a minute to pick up the phone and say “Hi, how are you?” Or better yet, change your weekly routine up enough to ask a friend to meet you for a cup of coffee. That couldn’t take more than an hour, right? What’s it going to mess up? Another run to Wal-Mart or Target? Or, put you behind an hour on a load of laundry? Big deal, it will all be there for you in an hour, or I bet you could even manage to catch up the next day. So what if the laundry isn’t done…your family isn’t going to ban you from the house.

We all need to stay in touch with those that mean the most to us in our lives, and take a little time out of life for you in the process. Because if we don’t, what in the world are we doing? Certainly not enjoying the one life we have been given.

Stop a bad habit. I just did and I feel more liberated than I have in years. I closed my FaceBook account and it felt great. It was becoming such a bad habit that I would wake up in the morning and roll over to check it. I never posted anything, and honestly I never really cared what anyone else was doing. It became more of a time-filler for me. Actually, more of a “time waster”. It’s not that I don’t care what others are doing, but it is their life, they need to live it, and I need to not be concerned. Because truthfully, I am living my life the way I want, and I barely have time to keep up with my activities, responsibilities, and family’s goings on…so why in the world would I have time to keep up with over 500 other peoples lives? I mean really think about it…do you really have time for all that…nope! I have three kids, two jobs, a house to keep, four pets, and a husband…just writing it out makes me exhausted…I barely have time for myself, let alone to worry about what someone is doing in my hometown, down the street, or across the globe. So I broke a bad habit, and it feels great. Think of all the time we waste on social media, and now think about how we can focus that time on ourselves, our families, or the dirty dishes in the sink.

I’m not saying my way is the right way, I am just saying step out of your “comfort zone” for a while. They say it takes seven days to create a habit, and 30 days to break a habit. Give it a shot…stop doing something for 30 days, a bad habit, and you know what they are…and see if you are missing it at the end of 30 days.

If you really want to step out of your comfort zone for a while…do something crazy, do something completely spontaneous. Book a trip and go! Get a hotel room for a night, just because and have a family fun camp out. Try something you’ve never tried, like water skiing. If you’ve never strapped a pair of skis on your feet and glided across the water, do it. It is one of the most liberating and exhilarating experiences. Are you going to fall? Of course you are…but what’s living without a few stumbles along the way. Don’t worry about what people think…do something that will make you go “Weeeee!”

Life’s way too short to live in monotony! Start crossing things off your bucket list today, and start living in the now. Not in the future, definitely not in the past…and rearrange your life so those bad habits stop controlling the here and now!