Remember when we were 10 and thought those people who were 20 years-plus had it all together? We romanticized the idea of our 20s. Now, we're here, stumbling around and trying to make sense of everything going on around us. Through the mess of good times and bad, there are some things we all must keep in mind, stated so eloquently by others who have been in our shoes:
1. "We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good." - Carl Sagan
2. "You can tell so much about a person by the way they leave you." - Redvers Bailey
3. "I will not be your sometimes." - Anonymous
4. "You deserve the world, even if that means giving it to yourself." - Via Rhsin
5. "It's never too late to start over. If you weren't happy with yesterday, try something different today." - Alex Elle
6. "I think that we got so close, there was no choice but to tear ourselves away from each other. We're too young and maybe one day, we'll be perfect for each other again, and every mistake we ever made will let us fall into place with one another. Maybe one day we can do this again." - Unknown
7. "The hours between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. have a funny habit of making you feel like you're either on top of the world or under it." - Unknown
8. "If you don't fit, it's because you're not supposed to fit." - Anonymous
9. "Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness." - Katherine Henson
10. "People say a lot of things in summer that they do not mean in winter." - Unknown
11. "We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery." - H.G. Wells
12. "Lest you forget; your roots need watering, your wings need stretching." - Unknown
13. "Suddenly, you're 21 and you're screaming along in the car to all the songs you listened to when you were sad in middle school and everything is different but everything is good." - Unknown
14. "A fully open mind could shatter the skull in both directions." - Henry Flynt
15. "You are not for everyone. The world is filled with people who, no matter what you do, will not like you. But it is also filled with those who will love you fiercely. Those are your people. You are not for everyone and that's OK. Talk to the people who can hear you." - Anonymous
16. "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear." - Mark Twain
17. "Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive." - Unknown
18. "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
19. "Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is more painful than staying somewhere you don't belong." - Mandy Hale
20. "You're packing up your sleeping bag, your lantern and your tent. And you're off to find the life you lost, but you're not sure where it went. And I hope those mountains teach you how to stand both tall and proud, that you see your life much clearer with your head above the cloud. I hope you swim through rivers with their currents swift and fast, that they show you must be careful when you wash away your past. I hope that you are humbled by the vastness of the sea, that the eagles high above you make you feel like you are free. I hope when night has fallen and your fire's just a spark, that the stars shine to remind you that there's beauty in the dark. But most of all I'm hoping that you're learning while you roam, that no matter the distance, you can always come back home." - e.h.
