I’ve said this many times before and I will say it again. If there is one part of my life that I would change, it would be my teenage years. This is not so much my 16th birthday but I mean the period starting from my 18th birthday through to much of my 20’s and actually part of my 30’s. In fact, it was just recently that I got over the drama that was my teenage years. I’m now 35 years old going on 36 years old so this drama has effected the better part of almost two decades of my life and has made me wonder if getting back out there and meeting someone is the right move for me. To make it simple though, if I was to travel back in time, I would tell myself, “It’s all in your head Jeff.” “It’s not real.” “You have it good with your girlfriend, ETC. Then after my ex moved away, I would stop myself from acting the way I did and remind myself that the passage of time exists and that 20 years after my girlfriend has moved away has been way too long to believe that I should still be holding a grudge. This is what happened to me. I got so wrapped up in what didn’t work with my then girlfriend that I lost track of time and believed she was relevant when she wasn’t for over 20 years.

So the advice I would give to my teenage self is that people come and go and it is a well known fact that 20 years is indeed too long to hold a grudge. In other words, don’t reminisce about the past and allow life to go on.

By Jefferson Bert