Natalie in the Wild

Daily Writing Prompt: If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be?

If I could go back in time and sit beside my younger self, I think I would tell her two things.

Be less afraid of what other people think. And learn to forgive yourself sooner.

I wonder how much time I’ve spent worrying about being misunderstood, disappointing someone, or questioning myself because another person saw things differently.

How many conversations have I replayed in my mind, searching for something I could have said differently? How many times have I allowed someone else’s opinion to carry more weight than my own understanding of who I am?

I would tell my younger self that not everyone will understand her.

And that’s okay.

Listen to others. Stay humble. Be willing to learn and admit when you’re wrong. But don’t spend your life trying to become someone everyone approves of.

You can listen without surrendering your voice.

You can be kind without always agreeing.

You can set boundaries without being unloving.

And you can choose a different path without needing everyone to understand why.

But perhaps the most important thing I would tell her is to forgive herself.

Forgive yourself for the mistakes.

For the things you didn’t recognize.

For the times you stayed silent when you wish you had spoken.

For the decisions you made before you understood what you know today.

I’ve spent too much time looking backward with today’s wisdom, judging the younger woman who hadn’t yet learned those lessons.

It’s easy to look at our past and wonder why we didn’t know better.

But we can only make decisions from where we stand, with the understanding and experiences we have at the time.

That doesn’t mean every decision was right. Forgiveness doesn’t erase responsibility or the need to make things right when we can.

It means allowing ourselves to learn without turning regret into a lifelong punishment.

Regret can teach us something without becoming the place where we live.

My faith has taught me so much about grace. Yet I’ve sometimes found it easier to extend that grace to others than to receive it myself.

I believe God meets us with mercy in our imperfections. So why have I struggled to offer myself even a small measure of that same compassion?

Maybe that’s something I would remind my younger self.

God’s grace was always meant for you, too.

And while I was there, I think I’d tell her to enjoy her life a little more.

Take the photographs.

Laugh without worrying who’s watching.

Spend time with the people you love.

Notice the little things—the evening light, the quiet conversations, the unexpected moments that eventually become treasured memories.

Don’t become so concerned with how your life looks to others that you forget to experience it.

I don’t know that I would change the road I’ve traveled. It has taught me things I couldn’t have understood any other way.

But I would want that younger version of myself to know this:

You don’t have to spend your whole life proving your worth to other people. And you don’t have to spend the rest of it punishing yourself for being human.

Be brave enough to be yourself.

Be humble enough to keep learning.

And be gracious enough to forgive yourself.

Maybe I wouldn’t try to change her journey after all.

Maybe I would simply sit beside her, listen to her worries, and offer the understanding she didn’t always know how to give herself.

I think she would need that.

Perhaps I still do.

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With grace and gratitude,

Natalie 🌿

Natalie in the Wild — Steady Light

Faith for the honest and unfinished.