Things I Wish I Had Known

Things I Wish I Had Known……

Wow, that’s a big one.

Hmmm, what do I wish I had known?

It’s funny because I’ve been working on not wishing this or that, as I really do think we are where we are meant to be. But of course, plenty of things I wish I had known pop into my head, as well as things I wish I’d listened to, and things that probably would have made life a little easier if I’d known them sooner.

Anyway, enough rambling and getting myself tangled up.

Today I’m joining the September edition of the Share Our Lives link-up, and sharing all about the things I wish I had known.

Here goes.

1. I wish I had known that time goes so fast.

I know everyone says this, but I don’t think you really understand just how fast it goes until you’re looking back and wondering where the years went. One minute you’re worrying about something that seems incredibly important, and then suddenly—boom—ten, twenty, or thirty years have disappeared.

2. I wish I had known that there was a time when everyone I loved was alive.

This one makes me sad. There was a time when everyone I loved was here. My mum was here. My family was younger. Nobody had been lost yet. And I didn’t know I was living through that time.

3. I wish I had known that turning 40 wasn’t old.

I really thought 40 was old. But then again, when I was 20, I also thought 30 was old.

I’m not saying anything about 60.

4. I wish I had known more about perimenopause and menopause.

I thought I was going mental.

I don’t think anyone talked about these stages much until recently, or was I just living under a rock? Now that I’m on the other side of it, I still wonder how much of what I was experiencing was perimenopause and menopause, and how much was just that particular time in my life being so stressful.

I was caring for my ageing mum, raising younger children, paying school fees, a mortgage and bills, working, doing after-school activities, trying to be a decent wife, mum, daughter and employee, and looking after everyone else while trying to keep myself together.

There was a lot going on. So maybe it was a bit of both.

I just wish I’d been kinder to myself and stopped beating myself up so much for being so darn emotional all the time.

5. I wish I had known that I should have started using sunscreen on my face earlier.

Sun spots (ugh).

Enough said.

6. I wish I had known that a dish sponge with a handle could make cleaning the shower so much easier.

Thinking outside the box and using a dishwashing sponge with a handle to clean the shower has made it so much easier.

Except that I’m an in-the-box thinker, and I saw this on Instagram – last month.

7. I wish I had known that one day I’d be able to Google everyone I ever had a crush on, and discover that some of them really didn’t age that well.

Truly!

8. I wish I had known that we’re all just seven-year-olds in a grown-up body pretending to know what we’re doing.

Fake it till you make it.

9. I wish I had known that you never stop learning and trying new things.

I thought you grew up, learned everything at uni, went to work and bingo, life figured out.

But no. And I think that’s pretty exciting!

It’s never too late to learn something new or try something that scares you (says the big scaredy cat herself!). I think I’m much braver now than I was as a kid, a teenager, a young adult and beyond.

Heck, I went on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission: Breakout at Disneyland last year.

I’m the bravest person in the world! I can do anything!

10. I wish I had known that nobody is paying as much attention to you as you think they are.

Knowing this would have saved me a lot of overthinking. And to be honest, I’m still working on this one. I know it, but I don’t know it.

Sometimes I sit there torturing myself over every little thing. Is my outfit okay? Did I say something totally dumb? Did I look awkward? Did they catch that mistake?

But I’m trying to remember that everyone else is way too busy thinking about themselves to notice all the things I’m worrying about.

At least I hope that’s true.

And there we have it.

A few things I wish I’d known, although I’m sure there are plenty more.

What about you? What do you wish you’d known sooner?

Linking up with Adrienne, Dara, Joanne and Jen