Advice My Future (10 Years Older) Self Would Tell Me Today (And Why I Need to Listen)
Introduction
What advice would your 10-year-old self give you today? What do you think he or she would say about your approach to life, work, and relationships? What do you think he or she would advise you to adapt? I spent some time contemplating this scenario and know that the 49-year-old Michael would most likely encourage these five life-enhancing tips (and I’m sure you will relate).
Listen.
The root of all being is interaction. Be an active participant with your ears. Listen to your environment. Listen to the random sounds around you. Take your nose out of your phone and genuinely listen to your wife, son (and the rest of your family, your friends, your colleagues, and everyone else you interact with). Look a person in the eyes when you're engaged in a conversation. Please show them your genuine interest and strengthen the bond you initially created.
2. Don't hold onto worry or anger for more than 5 minutes.
Quit wasting away seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, and decades of life worrying about not being perfect, doing perfect, or acting perfect. Embrace your emotion and passion, but bundle them into a positive, adaptive package, and act rather than stewing in destructive emotion. Don't let the resentment, anger, hate, and worry imprison your mind and distract you from the precious little life moments (even if those moments don't feel important). Bark if you need to. Step away to be alone (and this isn’t avoidance, by the way). Shake your fist at the sky. But DO NOT obsess, swim, or dance in this negativity for longer than 5 minutes. Indulge in this instinctual (or reinforced reaction) for a short moment and then let it go. Find the silver lining. Accumulate wisdom from your error. Accept. Adapt. Be fair to yourself. Be kind to yourself. See the world as perfectly imperfect and don't let it overwhelm you.
3. Trust your genuine self and quit second-guessing yourself
Act in line with who you are, but don't second-guess yourself because of fears, insecurities, or other underlying influences. Just be. Be assertive. Be confident. Don't act like yourself, just be yourself. Trust that you unconsciously have other people in mind. Don't worry about being judged. Don't judge yourself. Be yourself (unless you're selfish, inconsiderate, unsympathetic, unemphatic, demeaning, judgmental, egotistical, or unrighteous).
4. Seek to understand FIRST instead of judging when in a disagreement.
In a world of negativity, it's easy to judge and interpret someone or an incident through a personal lens (a filter you developed from a collision of internal perspective and your daily life). How accurate is this judgment or interpretation, though? What are you overlooking? Do you truly know the whole story? How do you think your emotion has affected your initial interpretation? Your initial reaction? Seek to understand first, and you will foster sympathy and empathy instead of the anger, disappointment, and frustration you most commonly feel when judging.
5. Find one positive attribute in every person you meet.
Quit looking for the negative in yourself, your environment, and people — especially other people. Retrain your initial thought process when meeting someone new by finding one positive attribute in every person you meet. Instead of assessing, try searching for the best in them. They may not be you, someone you know, or someone you may hang out with for a lifetime, but they still deserve your respect, genuine interest, and a chance to show their best selves.
About the Author: Michael Moody, Wedding Officiant
Michael Moody—author of the self-improvement book Redefine Yourself: The Simple Guide to Happiness and host of the “The Elements of Being” podcast—is an ordained minister serving Denver and other towns across Colorado. He is a 2023 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award winner in both Denver and Chicago (his eighth consecutive year), was named “Best Business of 2024 and 2025” by Three Best Rated, and earned “The Best Wedding Officiant in Commerce City, Colorado for 2024” from Quality Business Awards USA. Since 2012, he has officiated more than 300 weddings.
Specifically, Michael officiates wedding ceremonies in the Denver neighborhoods of LoDo, River North, Washington Park, Cherry Creek, City Park, Central Park, Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, Park Hill, Highland, Platt Park, Lower Highlands, Sloan Lake as well as the zip codes 80215, 80214, 80204, 80203, 80205, 80207, 80218, 80219, 80222, 80223, 80224, 80246, 80238, 80221, 80022, 80230, 80231, 80202, 80209, 80247, and 80210. Michael also serves as an ordained minister in Golden, Boulder, Breckenridge, Frisco, Aspen, Vail, Estes Park, and more.
If your Denver neighborhood or Colorado town isn’t listed here, no worries! Please contact Michael to propose a wedding ceremony location in a different area!
