Someone asked us a question that hit harder than we expected: if you could give your 18-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be? And honestly, I didn't think I'd get this emotional about it.
We went back to who we were at 18. The insecurities, the overthinking, the fear of rejection, the freedom we didn't appreciate until it was gone. One of us even read a letter she wrote to her future self years ago. And hearing those words now, knowing everything we've been through since, it just broke us. This episode is for anyone who's been so focused on what's next that they forgot to look around at what's right in front of them.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The fear that quietly held both of us back for years — and why it had nothing to do with failure and everything to do with something much deeper
- A letter written at 18 that predicted almost everything — and the three things she told herself to never let go of
- The one Japanese phrase that completely reframed how we look at every season of life — and why knowing something will end makes it matter more
Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome Back and Today's Question
02:14 – Who Were We at 18?
05:02 – The Fear of Rejection That Kept Us Small
06:56 – What I'd Tell My 18-Year-Old Self
08:57 – Why the Hard Path Was the Right One
11:19 – Stop Overthinking — It's Not the End of the World
13:23 – We Were All in the Same Chapter Back Then
15:42 – A Feeling Is Just a Feeling and It Will Pass
17:59 – Did Life Turn Out the Way You Planned?
20:22 – The Japanese Phrase That Changed Everything
25:04 – Reading a Letter to My Future Self
29:42 – Keep Three Things: Hope, Faith, and Love
31:49 – Why You Should Write Yourself a Letter
35:09 – What Gets Better With Age
37:00 – What's Brought You the Most Peace in Your Twenties?
40:02 – Letting Go of Control
42:22 – The 2016 Theme Party That Made Us Feel Ancient
44:21 – Final Message: Every Phase of Life Means Something