Imagine that you could climb into a time machine and go back to any decade in your life. What advice would you give to a younger you? What warnings would you offer? Would you listen to the older you?

You can find a slew of answers by women here. Men’s responses are sparse, although I found some inspiring answers by men at a Ted Conversation. For example:

Dear younger Jason, a couple pointers for you:

– That girl you’re going to date, she won’t be right for you. In fact, she’ll wrong you in a lot of ways, and it’s going to hurt. But it’s going to teach you much about what you thought you were looking for, so stick it out.

– Be nicer to your brother. Family is so important growing up, and it doesn’t get any less important as time goes by, so take every second you have and cherish it.

– In your endless pursuit of excellence, don’t forget to take time to stop and take in your surroundings. The point of the journey is not to arrive.

– You will have good managers and bad. The bad ones have as much to teach you as the good ones… they’re just different lessons. Pay attention, and take it as a development opportunity.

– These are nowhere near the best years of your life. Not even close. Life just keeps getting better. When one good thing ends, another is just around the corner, so waste no time being sad for what’s gone.

– Respect the rules your parents set for you. They have poured so much time, energy, money, and love into raising you that it’s the very least you owe them. You will never make up this debt, except by being the best you can be so that your parents have stories to tell of how proud they are of you. Those stories are why people have children, and you have no right to deprive them of that joy.

Some random answers:

In the other corner, author Elizabeth Gilbert (a favorite) says to Oprah that she has nothing to say to her younger self, who would have been too stubborn to listen!

I asked myself a more specific question after researching this topic online and reading hundreds of responses. That question: what spiritual advice would you give to a younger you? And from there, what is the most important spiritual advice I could give any younger person based on my life experience?

I ask these questions this week as I work on a sermon of the same topic. Also, I start teaching a confirmation class soon and feel such a responsibility to share meaningful insights.  I should be wrapping this up soon since today is Friday!! Any thoughts?