Your youngest self was so much smarter

Cru’s Letter

I recently concluded that one of the most prominent traits in fulfilled people is their ability to communicate or resonate with their youngest self.

I think this is the case is because the younger you are, the more open your mind is to the possibilities of life. You’re also able to grasp the clearest image of your highest self which is the faith in your ability to fulfill your potential.

It’s unfortunate that the world tends to crush the early dreams that all children have through a little thing called “being realistic.” The sad part is that being realistic is now synonymous with settling for less instead of actually looking at reality.

You often see successful people with fulfilling lives heavily reflect on their childhood. This is because their youngest self was probably most aware of what’s possible AND unaffected by the weight of most adults that already gave up.

It always makes me frustrated to hear a kid explain that their dream job is something super lame because I know they’re just saying it to virtue signal to the boring adults in their life…

Being mature is one thing but prematurely throwing away hope of an exciting life is another.

Here’s a question that most people feel threatened by:

Would your younger self be proud of you?

Maybe take a second to think of your own answer…

This question can really strike a chord because it exposes the memories we all had of what life might be like when we were little. Maybe you wanted the waterslide out the back window or the trampoline floors but more than that…

Maybe you also wanted to wake up every day excited for what’s to come.

Now, perhaps the waterslide maintenance would be a little over the top but the desire to be excited about life should never be off the table.

All too many people spend their lives forgetting what it was like to be new to this world and because of it, they’re missing out on some of the most powerful insight they could get.

My encouragement to you would be to restore that conversation with your youngest self.

Remember what you used to laugh about. Remember the crazy dreams you wanted to fulfill. Remember the totally unrealistic (but probably realistic) expectations you had for yourself.

And just maybe you can realize that that version of you…

Was pretty damn smart.

-Cru

P.S. Check out one of my recent Q&A podcasts where I talk about living life without your emotions in the driver’s seat: