The years that wrecked you are the ones you’ll end up teaching from. Someone younger will need that lesson.

The years that cost you most tend to become the ones you understand best, because you had no choice but to learn them thoroughly. Nobody studies a hardship like the person living inside it. That knowledge does not make the years worth it, and it does not have to. It simply exists, and it is useful to someone a few steps behind you.

You do not have to turn any of it into a lesson before you are ready. When you are, say the plain version to one person who is in it now. What helps them is rarely advice, it is hearing that someone came out the other side.