You鈥檙e walking down the street on a crisp, fall afternoon.聽 Birds are chirping, the sun is bright, and the leaves that have left their home on the branches of trees now crunch under your feet with each step.聽 Nothing can interrupt this seemingly-perfect day.
Suddenly, a loud noise that almost sounds like SHOOM cracks the air, and you see a silver car appear literally out of nowhere, almost like it鈥檚鈥�..
Wait, did I just describe the time-traveling DeLorean from the 鈥楤ack to the Future鈥� movie franchise?
Yes I did.
Doc Brown himself steps out of the car and spots you.聽 After some general pleasantries (and undoubtedly some questions you have for him about time-traveling), he offers you the chance to encounter your younger self and give advice in order to perhaps alter any future decisions or life patterns.
Would you be up for it?
That鈥檚 a tough question to answer if I鈥檓 being honest.聽 I happen to believe that our life experiences are what makes as whole as human beings, and that certainly includes the good, the bad, and the embarrassingly ugly times in our lives.聽 Are there mistakes that I wish I could go back and correct?聽 Of course, but I also think you learn from your mistakes and become a well-rounded and more-informed individual *because* of them.
However, that all being said, I鈥檇 be lying if I said I wouldn鈥檛 consider going back in time and telling Younger, Not-As-Handsome, Less Mature Derek (or is that More Mature?) about a few things he should know as he grows older.
I also think some of these points are things that I will in fact be telling and teaching my future children, if only so they can avoid some embarrassment or have a better chance at connecting with their family.
Advice to my younger self and/or future Ruttle offspring鈥�.
1. 聽Spend time with both of your parents.聽 Do the boring stuff.聽 Help them with chores.聽 Ask them questions about their lives.聽 None of us truly know how long we have on this earth.聽 I may have (technically) been an adult of 28 years old when my dad died four years ago, but I鈥檝e always felt there was so much more I needed to learn from him.
2. 聽I know it鈥檚 tough, but try not to lose your normal brain function when you start noticing girls and developing crushes.聽 I hate to break this to you kid, but when you鈥檙e 10 years old and you think the key to getting a girlfriend is telling your crush that you鈥檙e her 鈥渟lave鈥� and willing to do whatever she tells you, you鈥檙e basically just a doormat and comic relief.聽 PS. For the love of God, DO NOT EAT DIRT if your crush commands you to!
3. 聽Never trust a psychic who hasn鈥檛 won the lottery at least once.聽 Also, don鈥檛 believe in that crap.
4. 聽If you鈥檙e at a party following the big football game in high school and you see your crush with her then-boyfriend, avoid the booze because you鈥檒l just end up making some drunk, embarrassing confession to one of her friends about your feelings for said crush, at which point the friend will of course inform your crush, and the rest of high school will be awkward as hell between the two of you.聽 Wait, you think I鈥檓 talking from experience?聽 Um鈥︹��.no.聽 Moving on鈥�
5. 聽The friends you have when you鈥檙e very young will become strangers when you鈥檙e older.聽 Life just has a way of breaking certain people apart.聽 It happens, and it鈥檚 not necessarily bad.聽 On top of that, a lot of the friends you make in high school will also fall by the wayside when you become a young adult.聽 Again, this is completely okay.聽 School by its very nature literally brings you together for five days a week for an entire school year, so relationships will of course form, but you鈥檒l find that a number of close people will eventually move away from your circle in the years after graduation.
6. 聽Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
7. 聽Take pictures.聽 Write things down.聽 Keep a journal.
8. 聽Learn to cook, and learn to cook well.
9. 聽Enjoy the little things about life and live in the moment.聽 Don鈥檛 pre-plan everything and just take some things as they come, because some of the best moments in life are the ones that happen out of the blue.聽 Put the screens down and look up once in a while at life going on around you.
10. 聽Be an old soul.聽 There aren鈥檛 many of us left.
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
