A letter to my younger self

I was young and everything in my life had a beginning.

It has happened to all of us that we learn our lessons in life most of the time having them as personal experiences: either as mistakes, or as singular experiences, or as good decisions made. But what if all this had been given from the beginning so that you could guide yourself in life better, easier?

The first thought is to consider that everyone learns from their own mistakes, for some that's the only way to learn. But it is somehow incomplete: you don't learn only from mistakes. Because not everything you do is wrong.

You also learn from things done well and from the experiences of others if you want that.

The example that comes to mind is that of reading. In the days of another century, this was done through physical books, the compulsory school curriculum: by understanding the world either from the author's interpretation, or through your own interpretation or, most often, from specialists through literary analysis.

But now we live with children in a digital, extremely fast, uncontrollable world. If the old school curriculum was improved over hundreds of years, the current one seems like a draft made by a student during a break in class.

Too little good advice that is explained, too few worthy examples, too many illiterate people with enormous fortunes, too many empty quotes in the online environment.

That's why, this list... to which it will add one piece of advice every week until it reaches 100.

“in your life you will go through many trials and tribulations whether you want it or not. All of this will be useless if you don't learn from them.”

Every experience leaves a piece of advice behind. Learn the advice, write it down, reread it, memorize it. Let it be at hand when you need it.

You will make mistakes over and over again if you don't retain the lesson learned.

How many times do we repeat a situation because we haven't learned from the accident that was repeated?

Forgetting is a natural and normal phenomenon, it occurs often. We forget unpleasant things faster than pleasant ones, but how useful it would be if in moments of uncertainty I could go to the examples that left examples behind. To remind yourself in a personal way of what you felt and what you learned.

Have a great Sunday my dears!

“Nothing is certain.”

After certain experiences in life will lift you to the ninth heaven, others will bring you to the ground.

Nothing is stable, nothing is absolute, nothing is nailed down.

Unfortunately, this advice is completely ignored by those who guide your steps in life. Moreover, as if it didn't hurt enough, it tempts you with the opposite.

I will give you just one example: “And they lived happily ever after.”

Take the few examples from life that could also be demonstrated in mathematics, and this is one of them. None other than Albert Einstein demonstrated that E = mc². So everything is relative.

This, if taken as such, will save you from many problems, it is the foundation of many more accurate tips. When you always take into account that things can change immediately, often irreparably, you will be able to navigate this life much more smoothly! So, remember: nothing is certain!

Have a wonderful Sunday, my dears!

“At fourteen, you need to study hard: The Code of Good Manners, Shogun by James Clavell, and at least one serious book about nonverbal communication.”

In a world where children are encouraged to call their parents by their first names, this is essential. It matters both for the parents who started down this road (because maybe it is not too late for them to realize where they went wrong, when they went to the mall in flip-flops and talked loudly in the movie theater), and especially for the children who have never been clearly shown what is good and what is bad, what an educated person looks like versus an uneducated one, what etiquette is and what simple common sense means. They all need to read what I would call a cornerstone of human evolution. You will need it, because one day you will find yourself in places where these things are noticed, where they open doors—or close them. If your destiny was only to be left running cows on the hill, then yes, these books would be useless to you.

The second book is Shogun. Through it, you will have your first contact with truly international-quality literature and with a culture very different from your own, an old culture built around a quality that is becoming rarer and rarer today: honor.

It is important because you will begin to understand the nuances of honor, loyalty, and duty; you will see people as they are—different, complex, and changeable—and you will realize that values can be lived in many ways, not just the one you inherited by accident of birth.

As for nonverbal communication, in an age when 'everything' is done online, it is needed like the air you breathe. You must learn to know a person not by what they say, but by how they are, by what their body, face, and tone betray when their words are polished and rehearsed.

For that, you need practice, and you need to step out of the imaginary world of the internet and back into the real world, where eyes meet, hands move, distances shrink or expand, and silence also speaks. Research shows that people often trust nonverbal cues more than spoken words, especially in emotional situations, precisely because they are harder to control and reveal what we really think and feel.

Nonverbal communication is the foundation of manipulation—and, just as importantly, of learning how not to fall into its traps. Those who master it can influence, seduce, intimidate, or deceive without ever raising their voice. Those who ignore it become easy targets for anyone who does. Modern psychology even talks explicitly about nonverbal influence: the ways tone, posture, facial expressions, and physical appearance shape our attitudes and decisions before we have time to analyze the words themselves.

And that, again, is a good thing—because once you see it, you cannot unsee it. You gain a shield and, sometimes, even a sword.

But about that, in the next piece of advice.

Have a great day, my dears!

“If you know something that must never become public, then never tell anyone. Ever. It could not be simpler.”

Every person has a few skeletons in the closet, things they hide from others for different reasons. Sometimes these are matters of shame; other times they are simply matters that demand absolute discretion. If you truly want to be safe from the humiliation of seeing such things exposed, then there is only one reliable method: keep them to yourself.

But this is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a great deal of discipline to do it well, because discretion is not an instinct for most people; it is a quality learned through repetition, restraint, and self-command. You must train yourself to remain silent even when you are tempted by intimacy, by vanity, or by the illusion that “this person can be trusted completely.”

There will always be people who want to know exactly those things about you: what you hide, what your weaknesses are, what secrets you carry. Your task is simple—be strong enough to keep them to yourself. Not every question deserves an answer, and not every sign of curiosity is a sign of friendship.

In the end, people value a discreet person far more than a loud-mouthed one. That is an extra reward for keeping your skeletons small and your mouth shut. Discretion protects not only your secrets, but also your dignity.

After all, how could you ask others to guard your secrets when you were unable to guard them yourself—and even handed them over voluntarily? It would be absurd to be angry with them afterward. The first betrayal would already have been your own.

Have a nice afternoon, my dears!

“Be close to your parents”

As time passes, you begin to understand that life moves like sand through an hourglass: quietly, irreversibly, and often faster than we expect. Most of the time, we do not notice how little time remains until someone we love is suddenly no longer there. That is why your relationship with your parents should never be neglected. Be present for them, not only out of duty, but out of gratitude, because they were, in one way or another, the foundation on which you were built.

In psychological terms, this makes sense: the parent-child bond is one of the earliest and strongest sources of emotional security. Keeping that bond alive in adulthood can bring continuity, reassurance, and meaning. And when age comes for them, your presence becomes not just a kindness, but a form of human dignity. Time is merciless, so give your relationship with your parents the time it deserves.

Have a beautiful day, my dears!