18/11/2025
If I could sit my 20-year-old self down, the overtrained, underslept, chaos-fuelled fighter version of me… this is what I’d tell her:
1️⃣ Sleep is the real performance enhancer.
You can run on adrenaline in your 20s, but your body will collect the bill in your 30’s.
Sleep isn’t lazy — it’s your reset button, your hormone regulator, your emotional stabiliser.
2️⃣ Train for longevity, not punishment. Strength training isn’t about being shredded — it’s about being strong, mobile, pain-free and capable for the rest of your life. There are easier ways to keep body fat down other than running 100kms a week. Stop trying to beat your body into submission.
3️⃣ Fuel yourself like you actually care.
Fast food, skipped meals, endless dieting, fasted cardio, caffeine-as-breakfast — it all shows up later as inflammation, burnout, and hormone chaos.
Every bite is either healing you or harming you.
4️⃣ Stress is the silent killer — do the inner work.
Stress doesn’t hit all at once; it drips into your system until you crash. Learn stillness. Learn to down-regulate before your body forces you to.
Learn how to actually feel your emotions — the rage, the grief, the fear, the parts you try to outrun.
If you don’t process it, your body will hold it for you.
5️⃣ Know your inside world. Your bloodwork tells the truth long before your mirror does. Track your hormones, inflammation, sleep, stress, recovery — it’s data, not drama.
6️⃣ Habits > motivation. Motivation is cute but unreliable. Build routines and structure around movement, recovery, work, play and rest so your life doesn’t derail every time you’re tired or emotional.
7️⃣ Mobility is non-negotiable.
Stretch, roll, open your body daily. Not because it’s “nice,” but because immobility is the first step into decline — physically and emotionally.
If 20-year-old me knew this, she would’ve saved herself years of burnout, inflammation, and fighting her own body.
But she learned the hard way — so you don’t have to.
