Amidst quarter life crisis and struggling to find my own self, I read this tag on Surya’s blog. The idea behind this tag is If I could revisit my past and give 10 pieces of advice I would give to myself.

No matter how interesting this tag seems, right now what I need is some tag being done by 10 years older me in an alternate universe and give me 10 sensible advices, well that doesn’t seem to be happening, does it? So I will do it for the benefit of a younger me living in a different space time continuum.

10 years and I agree I have changed evolved as a very different person. So my 2 cents for the 17 years old Kanpuriya I was (they call it Kanpurite these days. Its sophisticated, but you know those days it was Kanpuriya from Kanpur)-

1- Stop having those Soft Drinks, they are going to haunt your physique and health for your entire life. They seem to be fun and people cheer when you finish a 300 ml bottle of Thums Up in a single breath but trust me it is not worth it.

2- Always stick to your philosophy of belief and abstinence; you would face doubts a lot of time. You would like to indulge the others, and would be mocked at by a lot of people. But eventually its going to get you self respect that you saw through your own beliefs not failing yourself.

3- The people all around you jeer you for being a nerd and a geek, no matter how they treat you now, would change with the way your status does. When they change you would realize they were not important then and not important now. Your true friends would always stay by you.

4- You suck at balancing time between personal and professional. Ration your time and you would go places.

5- Never ditch a friend for a girl you want to go out with. Dates are easier to get (way easier than you think they are) than good friends.

6- It’s always better to apologies and patch things up. Carrying the baggage is useless most of the time.

7- Winning is easy, losing graciously is not. Accept the defeat, and respect your opponents for their efforts only to try harder the next time.

8- Respect the people who criticize you and are brutally honest with you. Deep down they are the ones who really care for you and would stand by you in thick and thin.

9- Start playing a sport with the advantage of hindsight may be squash. Though you think that you suck at everything which is a sport but you would really enjoy the act of playing.

10- Don’t call everyone 5 years elder to you, uncle or aunty. It hurts big time when the same comes back to haunt you.

So these are the 10 advices I had, what about you? If you could go back ten years, what are the 10 things that you would tell your younger self?