If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today: A Woman’s Reflection
Somewhere between memory and reflection lives a question I often return to. If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today, what would I say to her now, with everything I know and everything I have survived?
I see you clearly. You are gentle. You are trusting. You believe love will always protect you. You have lived a sheltered life, and you do not yet know that shelter can sometimes blur reality.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today on Growing Up Sheltered
You grew up carefully held.
Convent school.
Convent College.
Girls-only spaces that felt safe, structured, and predictable.
You were taught discipline, values, and grace. You were not taught how the world actually works.
Then you married young. At eighteen, you stepped into a new home. At twenty, you became a mother. Your husband cossetted you, protected you, and ensured you never faced life’s rough edges. It came from love. Yet love also kept you financially dependent.
You did not earn. You did not manage money. You trusted stability to last forever.
Security, I wish you knew, is not the same as independence.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today on Education and Work
You finished your graduation after your son was born. You balanced books and bottles. You managed homes and emotions. You worked every single day, even if no one called it work.
But you did not build financial literacy. You did not build economic power. No one told you this mattered.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today, I would say this clearly. Every girl deserves financial literacy. Every woman deserves the ability to stand on her own feet. Not because marriage fails, but because life is unpredictable.
Learning is not rebellion.
Earning is not ego.
Independence is not a lack of love.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today on Loss and Reality
At forty, your world shifted overnight. Your husband passed away. Grief arrived first. Fear followed closely behind.
You suddenly had children to support and a world to face that you barely understood. You felt exposed. You felt unprepared. You realised how gullible you had been, not from foolishness, but from never being taught alertness.
There were wolves. You had not known to watch for them.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today, I would tell her this truth. The world is kinder to women who understand their rights, their finances, and their boundaries.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today on Strength
Those years were quietly hard. There were no dramatic victories, only daily courage. You learned by falling. You learned by protecting your children with everything you had.
You discovered the strength you never knew lived inside you.
You also learned something vital. Being selfless without self-awareness can empty you. Love should never require you to disappear.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today on Self-Love
You did not learn self-love in childhood. You did not learn it in marriage. You learned it much later, around 2020, after life tested you enough.
And that is okay.
If My Younger Self Asked Me for Advice Today, I would hold your hands and say this. Do not blame yourself for what you did not know. Wisdom often arrives after the storm, not before it.
Prepare for life with awareness, not fear. Ask questions. Build skills. Trust your instincts. Never give away your power in the name of love.
Because love should help you grow.
Not shrink.
Not disappear.
And survival should never have to teach these lessons the hard way.
This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Sameeksha Reads.
@wordsmithkaur
@wordsmithkaur
This was deeply moving and quietly powerful. The way you speak about love, loss, and financial independence without bitterness, only clarity; really stays with the reader. A necessary reflection many women need to read, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Our younger self did not learn many lessons, but many who are reading this now know about life, about self-love, financial independence, education for women, and the need for alertness. You are a fighter, Harjeet, and an inspiration to many, including me. Keep smiling; wish you great times ahead.
Such a wise post, Harjeet. A lot of women will identify with your well-written post. It is introspective, like listening to you thinking out loud. Yes, financial literacy is a must for women, as it being street smart.
So well said Harjeet. We are not a sum of who we were but rather who we became after the storms. This wisdom is what we spread around us to the many young ones we see. May we all grow stronger and better with time.
These are golden words of advice Harjeet, that every woman should be aware of.
Harjeet what a truly empowering post. These are nuggets of wisdom every woman should know for their betterment in life. 🙏😊
Your reflections on what you’d tell your younger self were so thoughtful and inspiring. They really felt like gentle wisdom wrapped in real-life experience.
Very touching and wise post. I also look back often and realise how innocent and vulnerable I was… before the various storms… thanks for writing this.
It’s so easy to confuse care and security with independence, and realizing the difference only comes with time and experience. Te way you reflect on your younger self with both tenderness and honesty makes it feel personal, like a conversation I wish I could have with my own younger self. It’s a gentle reminder that it’s okay to learn, stumble, and grow, even when life hasn’t prepared you for every curveball. Beautifully penned.