Carrie - Don’t Forget About Me (A Conversation With Your Younger Self)

What would your younger self say to you if she could sit down across from you today?

In this episode of Project You 2.2, Carrie reflects on a powerful moment sparked by Miley Cyrus’ lyrics, “Hey, you… it’s younger you… I’m just checking in to see if you still remember me.” What starts as a simple question turns into something deeper—an honest look at how we slowly lose touch with the parts of ourselves that once felt alive, hopeful, and free.

Somewhere along the way, life got busy. Responsibilities took over. And without even realizing it, many of us stopped dreaming, stopped feeling, and started just… going through the motions.

Through a story about a childhood dream, a meaningful moment in a grocery store, and a reminder that joy still exists in the smallest interactions, this episode invites you to reconnect with yourself.

If you’ve been feeling disconnected, stuck, or like life has become more about managing than living, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

And if something in this episode resonates with you, Carrie invites you to reach out and start a conversation. You don’t have to figure it out alone

www.projectyou22.org or email carrie@projectyou22.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hi friends, welcome back to Project U Two. I'm Carrie Helmer, a life coach, former teacher of 31 years, mom of three boys, and someone who has spent a lot of time helping people get unstuck, not because they don't know what to do, but because they can't seem to just do it. Before we even get into today's episode, I want to start a little differently. I just want you to listen to this. But before I start, please give me some grace. I you need to know something about me. I dropped out of choir in seventh grade, and not because I should have, or not because I wanted to, but I had to make a decision. They wouldn't let us do band and choir. So I chose band, and it was probably for the best. So again, give me some grace for the next moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Hey you it's younger you. I'm just checking in to see if you still remember me. Hey you it's younger you.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Okay, I know that was cringe to my boys and very humbling and vulnerable for me. But those lyrics from Miley Cyrus hit me the first time I heard them and really listened to them the other day in my car. I paused because it didn't really feel like a song to me. It felt like a question. If your younger self could sit across from you right now, would you recognize her? Would she recognize you? It just made me think: do you still remember who you were before life got so full, so scheduled, and so serious? I've been thinking about this a lot. I went back to this memory. I was a middle schooler, even in actually an elementary school, and I would walk to this little country corner store by my house, and every single time I would pass this big, beautiful house, it was white, it had tall pillars in the front, and I used to look at it and think, one day I am going to have something like that. And it wasn't just the house, but it was what it represented possibility, vision, a life that felt expansive and exciting, and maybe mine. And somewhere along life's path we lose touch with that version of ourselves, just like the song says somewhere along the way we lost touch. We used to be so happy just because. We used to be happy just because. Replace hope with overthinking. I am so guilty of that. Presence with pressure. We feel this pressure, and so we're not fully present like we were when we were younger. And this shows up in our lives. We stop dreaming, we stop envisioning, we stop asking what we really want, and instead we ask, what do I need to get through today? Where's my list? What do I need to check off? And it shows up in our relationships too, because we used to dream about love, what it would feel like, who we would be with, how we'd be treated. Now, some of you are living that dream, and if that's you, I'm so happy for you. But some of you are still searching for it. Some of you are sitting in something that doesn't feel like what you once imagined, and instead of opening your heart again, you close it. We settle for so many areas and so many things in our life. We disconnect, we go through the motions, or we even romanticize the past instead of creating something in the present because it feels safer. But guess what, sister? Life isn't meant to be lived safely, it is meant to be lived fully. I had this moment yesterday that brings me back to that. I was grocery shopping, and let's be honest, this is one of the most get-it done tasks that there is for me, anyways, because you're thinking about meals, what to buy, you're putting things in your cart, then you have to lift them up again. You touch the groceries so many times. You have to put them on the belt or self-scan them, and then you put them in bags, then back into your cart, and then out into your car, and then unload it when you get home, and then you have to put them all away. And it's a process. It's easy when you're grocery shopping for me, anyways, to just put my head down and move through it. But yesterday I didn't do that. I decided that I was going to be present and that I was going to connect. I was going to look at people, smile at people, and engage. And when we do that, it's incredible. And I was amazed at how many people met me there. There were so many smiles exchanged, eye contact, little conversations and just human moments. And then I decided to go to the self-checkout because when I was a kid, I wanted to be a cashier, so I'd love to do self-checkout. And the woman working came up to me and said, Let me know when you're ready, honey. And I wasn't really sure why, but I just said, okay. And as I was finishing up, she came back over without me even asking her to, and she said, I have a couple of coupons that I want to give you because every time I see you in here, you're just so sweet. And I just stopped because it wasn't about the coupons, although those are nice, I appreciate a deal. But it was about being seen and it was about realizing that version of me, the one who connects, the one who brings light, the one who feels joy in small moments, she's still here. I looked at that employee, really looked at her, and she was beautiful. And I told her that she was beautiful. She smiled and she said, I think you're beautiful too. And I don't know if she just said that like as one of those things where somebody tells you happy birthday, and your natural instinct is to say happy birthday too. But we hugged right there in the middle of the grocery store, and I walked out to my car with the biggest smile on my face. And on the drive home, Leanne Wilmack, I hope you dance, was playing. And I won't sing this one for you, but it was I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. And that phrase just it fit because that's what this is about. Not losing our sense of wonder, not losing our ability to feel life while we're living in it. And so on my drive home, I cranked that music and I was bobbing my head, and thank goodness you weren't there with me because I was singing, I was smiling, and I was just alive in it. And I thought this is what we lose. Not the big dreams, but the small aliveness. And I want to go back to the song I started with from Miley Cyrus. And let's hope she never hears this podcast because what a disgrace my singing was compared to hers. But in this song, a lyric continues and it says, I know your story isn't done, but do you love who you've become? And that's the question I want to leave you with. Do you love who you've become? And have you forgotten the parts of you that made you feel alive? Because your younger self, she isn't asking you to go backwards, she's not asking you to undo all of your growth, she's just asking you don't forget about me. So today, pause. Don't scroll, don't rush to numb out. Pause and just ask yourself, where did I stop being present? Where did I stop dreaming? Where did I start just going through the motions instead of actually living my life? And what would it look like to just bring a piece of that back today? Don't wait until Monday. Today, in a conversation, in your car, in a grocery store, in the way you look at people, and in the way you show up. Because life isn't built on big moments alone. It's built on the small ones that you actually allow yourself to feel and to be present in. If something stirred in you today, don't ignore it, it's not random. That's you remembering yourself. This is Project U 2.2, and this is your reminder. You're not starting over, you're coming back. And if this conversation hits something in you, if you're sitting there thinking, I don't want to go through the motions anymore. I want to feel like myself again. Reach out, send a message. We can just talk. No pressure, no expectations, just a real conversation about where you are, where you want to go, because you don't have to figure this out alone. Have a great day, and I will see you in the next episode.