Life lessons advice to your younger self stories are BS, but I may have one advice for my younger self.

Or maybe not.

I just read a story on Medium, “Life lessons I’d give to my 18-year-old self”. It’s an okay story. Maybe it’s better than Okay since it’s featured in Staff Picks.

But I wouldn’t say I like these stories. The wisdom in these letters to oneself is of a sentimental, humble-bragging kind. Oh, I’m so wise now. Don’t care about other people’s opinions. Nurture relationships with your close family members and friends. Don’t neglect your health. Bla Bla Blah. An AI could write a story to its younger self, and it will sound all the same.

There are several other reasons why I don’t like this genre.

First, advising your younger self is not possible. There is no time machine. So it’s a mental exercise which, as I suggested above, serves as a way to nurture your ego (oh, I am so wise now).

Second, your younger self probably wouldn’t listen to anyone, even “you.” When we reach adolescence and youth, we are stubborn. Even when we make questionable choices, it’s only through our mistakes that we learn. At best, we don’t listen to advice. More often, we get annoyed, especially if the advice is unsolicited.

Lastly, the notion of advising your younger self implies that we were silly and unwise when we were young. I disagree with that mindset. Yes, there might’ve been a lack of life experience. However, for most…