So on December 3^rd I hit the 20 year mark. This should be coming out about three days after my birthday occurs, so to celebrate that with everyone, I just wanted to release an article about 20 things I’ve learned in 20 years. Quick note: I always said I wouldn’t do a “top 10” or something like that, I don’t count this because I’ll be explaining what I mean behind everything.

1. Find an Amazing Support Group: Mine is my family, they’re fearless in doing what they think is best for me and my siblings and all of that jazz. Whether it be moving across the country, talking to us about what’s going on…laughing at me for changing my major so many times; they’re awesome.
2. Enjoy Time with Friends: From high school, I miss my friends despite making amazing friends in college so far. I may make fun of my friends often, but I truly love hanging out with them, talking about school and girls with them.
3. Take Risks: If we never took risks in our lives we’d be a lot further back than we are right now, so take calculated, necessary risks in your life to keep moving forward.
4. Be Authentic: because that’ll come out one way or another, no need to fool others at first. I’d rather know you as opposed to the idealized version or the version you think will make me like you.
5. Learn Something New Everyday: We need to keep our minds active by either reading a book, listening to educational stuff, reading interesting articles, rabbit-hole Google searches. All of that to keep learning so we can never be stagnant.
6. Dress Nice Often: Dress to impress the people around you, reap benefits of being well dressed and also: look snazzy.
7. When You Need it, Take Cover: Whether it be in the rain, emotionally, mentally; breaks are okay, take the cover, the shelter you offer yourself or someone offers you.
8. Work First, Play Second: Get your stuff done first so you don’t have it looming overhead, sure, procrastination isn’t the worst thing…but stress is awful and if you can avoid, do.
9. Life Goes On: If you ever feel like something is the end of the world, it isn’t. When we die, life goes on, it doesn’t revolve around us and end when our time is done. Remember that and touch as many lives as you can.
10. Time Doesn’t Pause: I often think of my old friends I’ve left behind and in my mind, they never change, they stay as I left them behind. It doesn’t work like that time doesn’t pause no matter what. I always think to myself whether a good or bad moment, This too shall pass.
11. You’re Never Finished: You’re a constant project to be tweaked and worked on. There’ll never be a finished version of you and you should be okay with that. Also, you can always improve an assignment or your social circle, so do that too.
12. Love Yourself: How are you to love others when you don’t love yourself? Make yourself unshakeable, unabashedly in love with yourself (without being a narcissist).
13. Have Fear: Fear isn’t bad, it has a negative connotation but it’s part of being human. When we hit fight or flight, we feel the rush and we have to react, we have to do what we can to work on the issue at hand. Fear makes us calculate the ifs and whens of life.
14. Just Go for It: I often think to myself that if I don’t say something I want to, it’s lost and vanishes without recollection by anyone but me. If it’s something you think is worth it…go for it and either way you tried.
15. Challenge Yourself: Whether it be adding new projects, a new commitment, a new talent; do something that forces you to grow, something that teaches you something. Failure is one of the best successes ever if we learn from it. Challenge yourself constantly.
16. Watch TV in Moderation: Relax, sit down and watch How I Met Your Mother or Master of None while winding down; don’t do it too often or you’re doing a whole lot of nothing which isn’t accomplishing much.
17. Be Present: I struggle at this (I blame my futuristic strength) but there’s a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that goes, “With the past, I have nothing to do. Nor with the future. I live now.” Enjoy the time now, it’ll be over sooner than you’d like to admit. Cherish it too.
18. Shoot a Video Once in Your Life: Video is such an amazing platform! In my mind, it’s like perfect time travel: it’s from the past and is a recollection that never changes of prior events. All shot with electronics and other cool things I don’t understand fully.
19. Do More: There’s always something to do, a break is fine now and again, but for the most part: seek to do something more. Add to a schedule if it isn’t filled to the brink, learn your limits and keep pushing forward.
20. Be Humble and Kind: Hold doors for people, talk to strangers, don’t brag. More importantly: be good and let good ebb and flow into your life. If you hang with negative influences, they damage you. If you’re a positive influence on the people around you: you can be a positive change to fix a damaged person.

Okay…that’s all. I’m 20, I have tons to learn, tons to experience (experience is better than things; things go away yet experiences are permanent). What’s my goal for being 20 you may be wondering: learn something new every day and play my part in what God wants me to do.

What’ll be number 21 next year? Let’s just find out next year.