Advice to the Past by Julie

Advice to the Past by Julie - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

Thinking back to the past is a thing people commonly do. Embarrassing moments, and easily avoided mistakes, among others, make us feel foolish. Reflecting on the past, however, is unavoidable, considering our decision-making process is structured on the memories of our previous actions. If I were to give a piece of advice to my past self, I would tell myself not to allow them to get to me, to think ahead, and to think about the good experiences I’ll probably experience in the future. There was a point in my life when I battled depression and suicidal thoughts. I thought there was no point in living life and that it would merely worsen.
Growing up, adults around me loved to tell me the same phrase once they found out about my depression; their eyes filled with pity as they would all say, “It will be fine Julie, it gets better-”. I would have to begrudgingly pretend that their words did not majorly piss me off and put on a facade that their words meant something to me. However, I believe that past me seeing a happier future version of myself and telling her that it gets better would have immensely helped me. It would have shown me that I would get happier, my goals get met, and most importantly, it does get better.
Thinking back, my past actions leading up to my unfavorable mental health seemed easily avoidable. If I was given the chance to provide my former self some guidance, I would advise her to think ahead, imagine the sublime opportunities we will have, and not let other people’s actions and words affect us. The advice would have immensely helped me during my adversity because it would be more personal coming from a future version of myself.