--- title: What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self description: "Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness" canonical: https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/ author: Levo League article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-10T11:59:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:27.647Z og:title: What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self og:description: "Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness" og:url: https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd5b6d3a2db32e7/69876e57cd1bba54ab6f4200/reese-witherspoon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2512 og:image:height: 1413 og:image:alt: Reese Witherspoon attends the premiere of "Inherent Vice" on Dec. 10, 2014 in Hollywood, California. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self twitter:description: "Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd5b6d3a2db32e7/69876e57cd1bba54ab6f4200/reese-witherspoon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1edbb2af-d5d3-4df6-88f3-8b32aea79866&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Levo League](https://time.com/author/levo-league/) ## Levo League Jan 10, 2015 11:59 AM UTC  Reese Witherspoon attends the premiere of "Inherent Vice" on Dec. 10, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Reese Witherspoon attends the premiere of "Inherent Vice" on Dec. 10, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Jason LaVeris—Getty Images/FilmMagic by [Levo League](https://time.com/author/levo-league/) ## Levo League Jan 10, 2015 11:59 AM UTC Who here doesn’t love [Reese Witherspoon](http://www.levo.com/articles/lifestyle/reese-witherspoon-birthday)? She’s smart, she’s gorgeous, she’s related to one of the founding fathers of our country, (John Witherspoon) and she’s passionate about getting strong female characters on screen. This is evident in her latest film, _Wild_, which comes out this month. The 38-year-old Witherspoon is not only starring in it, but also producing it as well. “Other than one studio, literally one, nobody was developing anything with a female lead,” Witherspoon recently told [_The New York Times_](http://levo.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b5cf19efcde3743f505963f66&id=c1c8f163c1&e=ac1a972e3b). So in 2012 she started a production company, Pacific Standard, focused on fixing this issue. Their first project was a little film you may have heard of called _Gone Girl,_ and the second is _Wild_. Witherspoon is already getting Oscar buzz (this would be number two) for her role as Cheryl Strayed in _Wild_. She plays a woman going through major struggles after losing her beloved mother. After spiraling into drug addiction and ruining her marriage, Cheryl decides to hike the very daunting Pacific Crest Trail–by herself. This is off the beaten path (very literally) from the typical romcom fare we’ve seen her in in the last few years (_This Means War_ was good, Reese, but a little unrealistic). **MORE** [Why it Pays to Be a Good Girl (Thanks, Reese Witherspoon!)](http://www.levo.com/articles/lifestyle/reese-witherspoon-birthday) Although Witherspoon seems like an invincible powerhouse today with her work in front of and behind the camera–and not to mention that she’s the mother of three kids–she was once an unsure-of-herself-20-something. She recently opened up to [_Glamour_ about what she would tell herself then, and it’s pretty golden.](http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/12/reese-witherspoon-glamour-cover) “All those things that you’re worried about aren’t important,” [Witherspoon says](http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/12/reese-witherspoon-glamour-cover). “You’re going to be okay. Better than okay. You’re going to be great. Spend less time tearing yourself apart, worrying if you’re good enough. You are good enough. And you’re going to meet amazing people in your life who will help you and love you.” **MORE** [Rebecca Minkoff Proves That Being a Nice Girl Can Work (Even in Fashion)](http://www.levo.com/articles/fashion/rebecca-minkoff-career) “I don’t think I realized \[in my 20s\] that no one else makes you whole,” she [continues](http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/12/reese-witherspoon-glamour-cover). “You have to take responsibility for your own happiness. That took me until I was about 31 to know. It wasn’t easy to realize that, ‘Oh, wait, I’m purely responsible \[for my life\]‘—no relationship, no children, no nothing is going to make you a happy person. Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness.” For more insight into what successful people thought about in their 20s, [read this](http://www.levo.com/articles/career-advice/what-successful-women-were-doing-in-their-20s). _This_ [_article_](http://www.levo.com/articles/lifestyle/what-reese-witherspoon-would-tell-her-20-something-self) _originally appeared on_ [_Levo.com_](http://www.levo.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/"},"headline":"What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self","datePublished":"2015-01-10T11:59:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:27.647Z","description":"\"Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness\"","url":"https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/","keywords":["Living","Happiness","Reese Witherspoon","advice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd5b6d3a2db32e7/69876e57cd1bba54ab6f4200/reese-witherspoon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Levo League","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/levo-league/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd5b6d3a2db32e7/69876e57cd1bba54ab6f4200/reese-witherspoon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Reese Witherspoon attends the premiere of \"Inherent Vice\" on Dec. 10, 2014 in Hollywood, California.","caption":"Reese Witherspoon attends the premiere of \"Inherent Vice\" on Dec. 10, 2014 in Hollywood, California.","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—Getty Images/FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3630862/reese-witherspoon-20-something-self/","name":"What Reese Witherspoon Would Tell Her 20-Something Self"}}]}] ```