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

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When I think about this question, only one movie comes to my mind: “Yes Man” 🎬, the comedy starring Jim Carrey. And honestly, it describes my answer perfectly.

In case you haven’t seen it: Carl, a bank loan officer, is saying “no” way too much, literally becoming a guru os saying no: to invitations, to phone calls, to pretty much everything. Then he joins a seminar and promises to say “yes” to every opportunity for a whole year, and, as you can guess, chaos (and a lot of adventures) follows. 😄 (Fun fact: the movie is loosely based on a memoir of the same name by the British writer Danny Wallace.)

One of my biggest wishes for my younger self, perhaps not regrets, but wishes, is saying yes more often. Being brave, taking risks, and saying that one little word that could have brought so many more adventures. ✨

Of course, I don’t mean saying yes literally in every situation. But there are tons of situations in which I was simply too scared to participate: too scared to join events, too scared to try riskier things, too scared to step outside my comfort zone.

I said no to many events, which turned out super fun, said no to meeting friends, said no to fun outings, said no to participating in conferences due to my fear of public speaking. At the moment it felt fine, but sadness of missing out came later.

What I find funny is that some of my biggest “yeses” also came later: saying yes to a long flight despite my fear of flying, to a wedding in India, and to restarting my blog after years, to deciding to record videos with myself – my YouTube is also coming up (page is already created – Yay!). 🌍 Every time I was scared, and every time I was so glad I did it.

So that’s what I would wish upon my younger self: say yes a little more often, especially when fear is the only reason to say no. And if it feels too big, start small: one invitation, one event, one new thing. 💛

What would you wish for your younger self? Tell me in the comments 👇