I learned a lot of life lessons growing up. My 20th birthday is approaching and I want to share a few things I learned through the years. Hopefully, this is some helpful advice to those 18-20 somethings struggling with "adult-ing," finding themselves or dealing with life. We all go through it. Here are 20 things I learned before I turned 20.
1. Sleep.
In high school, I too, like most, was up until 2:00 a.m. Snapchatting my friends, watching Netflix and sitting on social media because I “wasn’t tired” yet. So this may be true, I still somehow never put two and two together as I constantly wondered why it was such a struggle to wake up by 7:00 a.m. and get to school on time. I’ve come to realize sleep is so much more complex than I thought and it's quite delicate.
It’s so easy to throw off your sleep cycle. You sleep a little too long and you’re groggy, don’t get enough sleep and you can’t keep your eyes open. The wrong amount of sleep for your body or low quality sleep can affect your mood, your health, your attention and your appetite along with many other things. It is so important to your entire ability to even function daily, so finding the perfect equilibrium of sleep is essential.
2. Being alone isn't so bad.
Growing up, I constantly craved company and attention. I always needed to be surrounded with friends. I was accompanied by friends everywhere I went, even when it was just studying at Starbucks, or going shopping. I hated being alone but I didn’t even really know why. As I grew older I realized being alone is fantastic. I actually prefer the peace of being alone. Not constantly having the streaming commentary of people around you is a blissful thing. I have gained the extraordinary acceptance of liking my own company. Just try it once, trust me. Go shopping by yourself, or out to eat alone.
3. Coffee. Self-explanatory.
Just don’t drink too much or else you’ll poop all the time. No further comment. (P.S. black coffee isn’t as bad as it seems.)
4. Life does get better.
I’ve experienced it first-hand. I know my story isn’t the biggest revelation in the entire world but its real. Time does heal wounds, listen to your Mom when she says this.
5. Don’t care what others think about you.
This is the best thing I’ve ever learned. Just do what you love. Who cares what they think about you. I’m a 20-year-old and I have a freaking blast playing Pokémon. If you want to ridicule me go ahead, I’m having fun while you’re wasting your time commenting on something completely irrelevant to life. It doesn’t define me, it defines you.
6. Open a savings account. (Then learn to save.)
I know when you have bills to pay, $200 college textbooks to buy and things you want to do it seems impossible to save. I just started with putting away a $1 a day. You’ll be surprised how fast it adds up.
7. Pizza is always the best drunk food. Period.
It somehow magically makes everything better when you’re intoxicated. Too drunk: eat pizza. Tired: eat pizza. Nauseous: eat pizza. Hungover the next day: eat pizza. And when you’re finally “pizza-ed” out, eat pizza and you’ll forget about how sick of pizza you are.
8. Don’t procrastinate.
You'll regret it.
9. Always use a DD.
I hate hearing about people getting arrested for DUI’s and having that permanently added to their record forever. Worst yet, I hate to hear the stories of young beautiful adults with their whole life ahead of them getting into deadly accidents because they drank a little too much and didn’t have someone to tell them "don’t get in the car." If you don’t have a DD, call a friend, a cab, Uber, anything else. If you see a friend trying to drive home drunk, please try and stop them. It’s not worth it, call them a cab. If you really have to, call their mom.
10. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions or get help.
There have been so many times in my life when I was too afraid to ask my parents, peers, or professors questions (even when I knew they had answers.) Don't make the same mistake i did. I probably wouldn’t be stuck taking the intro to the intro of the intro to college algebra if I would have asked my high school math teacher for help.
11. Sweatpants.
You can never have too many pairs of sweatpants. You’ll learn they are the best thing on the planet. You can pretty much wear them every day during college and no one will judge you like Mean Girls.
12. Friends come and go.
Sometimes it just happens. As you get older and become an adult your priorities and interests change. Losing a friend is hard, but it's natural as you change as a person.
13. Books.
We often forget about books as much of our entertainment revolves around Netflix. I forgot how much I truly enjoyed getting lost in a story until I picked up a book other than one of my school textbooks.
14. Don’t forget to thank your parents.
You probably wouldn’t be here today without them. They raised you, clothed you, put food on the table, probably helped you get your first job and fill out all your crazy FAFSA information. Always remind them that you love them and appreciate them. If it wasn’t your parents that were there supporting you through it all, then don’t forget to thank whoever it was… Your siblings, grandparents, stepparents, adoptive parents, a significant other, your friends.
And if it was just you all along, then give yourself a pat on your back and tell yourself you did a good job. Even if it wasn’t just you, don’t forget to thank yourself every day for doing what’s gotten you here.
15. It's hard to always eat healthily.
You've probably tried to eat healthy too, and then after two weeks of much anticipation to see your results, you find yourself back in the McDonalds drive thru. I think we have all been there at one point or another. Trying to eat healthily is difficult, point blank.
16. Take more pictures
One thing I regret is not taking enough pictures. You'll want something to look back on so don't forget to snap pictures.
17. Going out is fun, but don't forget to stay in sometimes.
Sometimes staying in is more fun than going out to a party.
18. Forgive.
Learn to forgive because sometimes the apology you want isn't coming. You could wait an eternity and never receive an "I'm sorry" because the other person is not capable of serving an apology. Forgiving them doesn't mean what they did wasn't wrong, it'll just relieve the stress of waiting for an apology.
19. You aren't with the right person if...
You don't feel appreciated and you don't feel heard. All relationships will have struggles and the occasional fight, but those are two really important aspects you need in a relationship. If you aren't feeling appreciated and you feel like your significant other does not hear you out, leave. Life is too short to stick with someone who doesn't appreciate you.
20. Growing up sucks, we know.
Just remember everyone has to go through it. If we all did it, so can you.
