MythOfSisyphus

I hope upon further reflection you don't feel so bad, AF. At 17 we are all kind of naive about the world. Who hasn't felt that the world would be their oyster at that age? The reality is that the world is more complicated that we think it will be when we're young, and there are lots of obstacles and challenges that our inexperienced selves couldn't have foreseen.

We do have second acts, and even thirds and fourths! We only stop reinventing ourselves when we die. Just as your 17 year old self couldn't have imagined the future you now inhabit, there is a future your current self will one day inhabit. Act now to make it a good one.

PurpleKnight

I once wrote a letter in the context of writing to my teenage self and all the things I would say to him, the things he didn't need to worry about, the things to inspire him to be the person the now me thought he should hear!!

The reality is life keeps on rolling, we gotta roll with the punches and we're gonna make some mistakes, after I'd written the letter I figured the teenage me would probably have been too cocky to take my advice on board, as I was now a boring 30yr old anyways!!

But I wouldn't be me now if I hadn't have made all those mistakes, by not listened to the advice, learning from my experiences, I became me, I became the PK who types this post!!

Hang in there Art!!