The Shawshank do-over

Daily writing prompt

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

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The Shawshank Redemption has a scene of jaded lifer Red (Morgan Freeman) telling the parole board how he’d like to go back and have a talk with his teenage self. So powerful.

“I wanna talk to him,” he says. “I wanna try to talk some sense to him — tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone and this old man is all that’s left. I gotta live with that.”

What would I tell myself? Six things.

1. You’re a late bloomer. You’ll be six foot in college. Don’t worry that girls in high school don’t dig you bc you’re a shrimp.
   
   But don’t waste time in college making up for lost high school years. You’re there to learn…so learn. Benefit from this opportunity. Sit up front, ask questions, ponder what you’re studying.
   
   
2. Forget the veterinarian thing. It’s not how you envision it. And don’t settle for engineering because it’s a marketable degree. Pursue writing. There will some world-class authors teaching in college. Pick their brains. Strive to have your first book out by 25.
   
   
3. You’ll make some of your best friends in college. Nurture these relationships, don’t let them die after graduation.
   
   
4. Be smarter with money. Save and invest, don’t blow it all on stupid stuff. The difference between starting to save at 25 vs 35 can mean millions by the time you’re 65.
   
   
5. Don’t forget about God. There’s a church right across the street from your dorm. Visit it more than three times in four years.
   
   
6. Time is not unlimited. Your teen and college years are a fleeting, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Relish it because you’ll remember it the rest of your days.

Red was reunited with his friend Andy on a Mexican beach after 40 years of Shawshank. I’m now free after almost 40 years in another kind of Shawshank, the soul-draining Corporate world.

Old age begins when dreams turn to regrets. Guess that’s when time runs short, when you become too weary…when you no longer yearn for the stuff you once wrote in your yearbook, but instead the stifling familiarity of Shawshank.

I wonder if there’s still time for the kid in my yearbook photo…and if he will ever reach his Mexican beach.