What advice would you give your 21 year old self?

I saw this question on Chronicles of a Busy Mind, and it made me think....

I'm a lifetime science fiction geek, so I know the risks of going down this path....no matter what you change for the better, it always makes other things worse.  But since there's no risk of that (because my access to a working time machine is zero!), I decided to play along.


So here goes my advice to my younger, not yet aware self:

Life is going to be a lot more complicated and a lot more interesting than you think now.  But hang on, it's so worth the ride.             First of all, don't spend the next decade or so trying to do things to get mom to love you.  It isn't going to work, and you're going to waste a lot of time, energy and money getting degrees you don't need, studying things you do not want to study, and in the end, it won't have any affect except to make you sad and frustrated.  
             Study what makes YOU happy. Study art and theatre and architecture. Maybe give organic another try.                    But before you step back into any classroom, there are a few things you need to do -- travel.  Take that trip to Paris.  Go to Egypt. Go to Israel and Russia and Indonesia. Go everywhere and anywhere.  Learn more languages while you can, and then go to places where you can use them.              And along the way, make sure you stop in Gainesville next year to visit M. -- and meet his roommate.  He's going to be an important person in your future, so you want to meet him sooner this time.                       Still ...make time in your life to have kids -- there are three awesome ones you won't want to miss, even if it involves some stressful years. They are worth all of that and more. And if you play it right with that roommate in Gainesville and connect sooner, you may add another couple of kids to make it all complete.                Learn to stand up for yourself sooner. Learn to say no -- and to say yes -- and learn when you really mean each of those.              
          Write more.  You have talent, and if you realize that sooner, you might be able to do more with it.          Spend more mornings watching the sunrise and less mornings in rush hour traffic.             Keep up with dance and yoga -- it'll be easier than trying to go back to it later on.                   And all that money you earned during college?  Don't waste it.  Buy a house in Miami.  Buy the family farm in Illinois.  Buy land in Boulder. Trust me, you'll be happier about that, in the long run, than you will be with the designer clothes, trips to the Bahamas and $300 shoes. Learn how to budget and invest now. Then do it forever.     Worry less. Most of the things you'll worry about will never happen. 
Like who you are, as G-d made you, as you are.  Never feel the need to defend your vegetarian, spiritually-focused, long skirt-wearing, book-loving self.  Someday you'll reach that point anyhow -- better to get to that point of comfort with who you are sooner, and save yourself years of feeling that you ought to be someone different.  
Be happier, sooner.