At 70 years old, if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words ‘F* off’ much more frequently.
Too many years are wasted trying to please, to be liked, to fit into places never meant for us. We bend, we compromise, we bite our tongues—until one day, we realize that none of it ever really mattered. The opinions we once feared, the obligations we felt trapped by, the people we exhausted ourselves for? They were never worth the weight we carried.
So, to my younger self: Speak your truth boldly. Don’t justify your decisions to those who have no place in your life. Stop explaining yourself to people committed to misunderstanding you. Protect your time, your energy, your peace. And if something doesn’t serve you, have the courage to walk away—without hesitation, without apology, and without looking back.
Because, in the end, the only regrets you’ll have are the times you stayed silent when you should have stood firm. The times you tolerated what you should have rejected. The times you put everyone else first and forgot about yourself.
