There are so many things, almost an unimaginable quantity of things that you don’t know when you’re younger. And I’m talking five or six. I try to remember days of my life from those times, and, honestly? I would not want to be around me. I used to think I knew everything already, that I was some prodigy or something. I didn’ have manners, I always acted the way I wanted to and I thought I had the world at my command.
The funny thing is, I’m going to look back on this version of myself one day and say: wow, I sucked. And that’s just how it is.
The thing about time is that it never stops feeding you. You learn new things whether you want to or not, and the number of things you know is probably smaller than the number of things that you don’t even know you don’t know. You have things you know, things you know you don’t know, and things you don’t know you don’t know. That last one is kind of scary if you ask me.
You know when you’re falling asleep and suddenly you remember an argument you had days, months, or years ago and say: dang, why didn’t I say that in response? That’s what I’m talking about. Depending on how long ago that was, you probably didn’t even know you could say something like that, but now you do. Every day we come across things that make us feel like we don’t know enough, or that we’re not smart. But we forget that everything we do understand, we understand. We’re smart enough to understand them, and that’s amazing.
Just know that when you suddenly realize something you should have done in the past, or even if you really don’t like your past self, remember that it means you’ve evolved, and you will continue to.
