Recently, I turned twenty and after a long couple of months full of the happiest moments of my life and some of the most stressful, I’ve been able to take a look deep inside my mind and soul and the results have been in the most cliche statement, life-changing. All it took was brutal honesty with myself, getting comfortable with being highly uncomfortable, and attempting to figure out my true passions in life. With that being said, here are 19 things I have learned and realized over these past years.
1. Life is hard and messy.
You have the choice to decide to view it as either a plain disaster or a beautiful disaster.
2. You have the power to change the day.
There’s nothing more powerful than someone who is sure of themselves and their desires in life.
3. Do not be afraid to be alone if that is what you need to do.
Separate yourself, find yourself, and begin to surround yourself with people who make you feel your absolute best.
4. There is no way you can fall in love if you do not love yourself first.
5. Tell the people that you love in life that you are grateful for them and how much you love them every day.
You never know when you won’t be able to say that.
6. Your parents are the only people in life that will love you regardless of what you do.
Appreciate that but never take it for granted.
7. The most important relationship you will ever have is the relationship you have with yourself.
8. It is OK to make mistakes.
However, if a mistake is made you need to take ownership of that. No one likes a coward.
9. The smartest person in the room rarely speaks.
Keep that in mind.
10. There’s a difference between quitting and getting out of a toxic relationship.
That may be a romantic relationship, friendship, place of living, etc. You need to do what’s best for you, whatever that may be.
11. Ask questions and never feel stupid for not knowing how to do something.
It turns out people actually like to explain things.
12. Accept love and not just the love you think you deserve.
You deserve to be happy, genuinely happy, and to feel like yourself again. When that love comes around don’t let them go.
13. Give certain people a second chance but never forget your gut instinct.
14. Put yourself in situations that make you nervous.
Try out for a team you think you won’t make, apply for a job where the requirements are far beyond what you have, and talk to the guy/girl who’s way out of your league. You just might surprise yourself.
15. Travel.
You don’t need to go to Bora Bora or Costa Rica to have the trip of a lifetime, sometimes all it takes is a weekend road trip with your friends to a neighboring state.
16. Let go of the people who would walk away from you in a heartbeat.
17. Accept the fact that your mom was right all along.
Those people were really never your friends. You deserved to be treated so much better than you were, you don’t belong in that group in college, and maybe you need to let those walls down because someone great will come around eventually.
18. Realize your worth and with that being said know how worthy you are.
19. If you don’t know what you want to do in two years, that’s OK.
If you don’t know what you want to do in three months, that’s OK, too. You don’t need some mapped out life plan full of exact dates and times. All you need in this life is to be a good person, smile every day, say what you’re grateful for, and have faith in yourself that things will work out just as they are supposed to.
