Everything always kind of worked out for me, until it didn't.  And that's when I realized that everything doesn't always kind of work out for anybody.  If it seems like everything is always kind of working out then you aren't even trying.  You haven't even started yet.  The real work's all ahead of you.

I have very few regrets in my life, but if I could do it all over again there are hundreds of things I'd do differently.  Some big, some small, some seemingly imperceptible at the time, but turning out to matter in very real ways I would have never - could have never? - then predicted.

Maybe it's tired, or maybe it's tried and true, but whatever it is, here's my version of the "what I wish I knew" existential epistle to my former self.

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16 Things I Wish I'd Known at 16

16. You can't, in fact, do anything. Your life was never a clean slate. Myriad factors, many beyond your control, some determined before your birth, will limit your potential and determine the course of your future.

15. Time flies. Every year will feel shorter than the last.

14. Your life will become infinitely more complicated than you can imagine, and in ways for which the preparations you're attempting to make are futile.

13. It is necessary but not remotely sufficient simply to desire anything worth having. You will also need diligence, resilience, and patience in abundance.

12. Nobody will ever love you as much as your mother, but she will never be the person you want her to be.

11. Bad people walk among us. Learning to spot them, without letting on that you've done so, is an invaluable skill.

10. You are entitled to nothing. Not even what you've earned.

9. Reputation is exponentially more important than you can now grasp, and keeping it intact is a daily and unceasing effort.

8. Never, ever convince yourself you have it all figured out.  You never, ever will.

7. The only universe you'll ever be the center of is your own.

6. Nobody gets everything they want, and some people get nothing. But the important distinction is between those who tried and those who never did.

5. Nothing will prove more difficult or more paramount than figuring out what makes you the unique being that you are, with the exception of accepting those inevitably difficult truths you will discover about yourself.

4. Even trees that fall in empty forests are heard.

3. When it comes to fulfillment, it's every man for himself.

2. Others will genuinely want what's best for you, but none of them can know what that is.

1. Life is infinitely more beautiful than you can imagine, and in very different ways than you anticipate.