What would you tell your younger self

The speaker and her husband were discussing what advice they would give their younger selves. The husband said he would tell himself to value money more. The speaker, on the other hand, mentioned that she wouldn't change much about her past despite the heartache and trauma she went through. She believes that her experiences shaped her into the person she is today, and if things had happened differently, she wouldn't have her current blessings. They also discussed the importance of admitting mistakes and not being afraid to ask for help. The speaker shared an example of how she asked for a hybrid work option to improve her productivity. They concluded by mentioning that they would discuss more topics after a short commercial break. Hello, I'm Fabie, and I'm here with a very special guest, Tanya Thibault. So today I want to talk about career advice. Or more importantly, you know, we're both in our 40s. Well, I'll be 40 soon. But, you know, driving home the other day, my husband and I were like, you know, what would you tell your 20-something-year-old self? What advice would you give yourself in your 20s? And my husband said to value money more. So I guess he spent a lot in his 20s and took out some loans and credit cards. So that's something that he would tell himself in his 20s. So what about you, ma'am? That's interesting. Because you started out by saying career advice. But then mentioned money. So which is it? Career advice or financial advice? Well, let's do both. Career, financial, personal love advice. Let's do it all. Oh, see, I've always had difficulty with the whole what would you tell your younger self. Because maybe I'm an exception to the rule. But it is interesting that you ask this question. Because just the other day I was on the phone with my best friend. And we were talking about, well, if I knew then what I know now. And I made the comment to her that if I knew then what I know now, as much heartache and as much trauma as I've dealt with over the years, I don't think I would change much, if anything. Because, like you said, we're both, you're almost 40. I just turned 46. I didn't get married for the first time ever until I was 38. I didn't meet my husband until I was 36. When I was younger, all I wanted was to find the perfect man, get married, be a mom, have a family. That was what was important to me. Career wasn't. I thought I was meant to be a stay-at-home mom. That obviously didn't happen. But I also know, and I'm going to skirt the line here and say that faith has a lot to do with this in my situation, too. But we're not going to get into that right now. But I know that before I met my husband, he was kind of a different person. And who he was in his 20s and 30s is not the kind of person I would have wanted to spend my life with. Interesting point. The experiences he went through turned him into the man he is today. The experiences I went through have turned me into the woman I am today. So by the time we met, we were compatible. But 20 years before that, we wouldn't have been. Anyway, back to I was talking to my best friend, and I told her that had I met him 20 years ago, I wouldn't have married him. I wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with him. He wasn't exactly a nice person back in those days. But if I could go back in time, and some people say, I wish I'd met you sooner so we could have had more time together. We wouldn't have had more time together because, again, there were some things that he needed to go through to become who he is. And there were some things I needed to go through to become who I am. If things had happened to me differently, if I had gotten married, if I did have children, I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't have the husband I have. I wouldn't have the house that I have. I wouldn't have the car that I have. I wouldn't have the job that I have. I wouldn't have all these wonderful blessings that are in my life right now. Granted, maybe I'd have different blessings. But I don't know. I might be worse off. So do I really want to take that chance? So it's very difficult to say, what would I tell my younger self? Because I don't know. If anything, I might say, well, you know, actually, everything that's coming to mind, you know, learn to be more patient. Well, no, then I wouldn't be who I am now. Right. You know, be smarter with your money. Well, then I wouldn't be who I am now. Exactly. Like I said, maybe I'm the exception to the rule. But I can't think about anything that I would change from the past that wouldn't significantly affect how things are today. Okay, well, let's say this. What advice would you give your 22-year-old niece? She comes to you and says, hey, give me some advice, Auntie. So not just get yourself out of it, but what would you give the youth of America? Like for me, for example, I would tell them, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Absolutely. Make some mistakes. More so than that, don't be afraid to admit your mistakes. Exactly. That took me years to learn. In fact, I can actually use this as a perfect example that with the pandemic and us starting to work from home and then with our boss, the big boss man, recognizing and acknowledging that, hey, people working from home doesn't negatively affect our business. In fact, there are some people who are performing even better without the constraints of being in the office. So having had that world opened up to us was a boon for our business. But personally, I found being a social creature and, you know, my personality being what it is, working from home, the longer I spent working from home, the less and less productive and less motivated I was to do my job and do it well. So I went to our supervisor and said, hey, I need the option to come in, work in the office. Now, I like the hybrid option. Right. That's the both worlds. That I do get to work from home occasionally if I want or need to for whatever reason. And yet also being able to come into the office, see other people, talk to them face-to-face, because when I'm in the office, then I have that office mentality of I'm at my job. I'm being paid to do a job. Therefore, I need to get that job done. Whereas at home, it's too easy to say, oh, I'm going to wash the dishes or I'm going to do some laundry or I'm going to play with the dog. You know, and it's easier to be distracted and not focused on work. So, yeah, don't be afraid to admit that you need help, that you've made a mistake, that you've messed up and things need to change. And then move forward and, you know, fix those mistakes as best you can. And it's really not that big a deal. Wonderful advice. Well, stay tuned. We have a short commercial break and we'll be back to discuss more hot topics with Tanya and myself.