It's been five years since we've been given new music from the gift that is Adele's voice. However, the 10-time Grammy Award-winning artist recently made the announcement that her new album, 25, would be released next month. With the announcement came a tweet, a new music video, and lessons to be learned.
#BOOM. And with a few simple words, Adele reminds us the importance of self-love, not wishing away life, and making a hell of a comeback. We spend so much time wishing away our lives. When we were in high school, we waited for the day we could get to college. Once we got to college, we waited for the day we would have our own lives and be freed from the shackles of student loans. Every once in a while, we need to make-up with ourselves. Instead of focusing on reconciling our lives with everything and everyone around us, we can start by focusing on reconciling with ourselves. With that being the tip of the iceberg, Adele gives us many takeaways from her reappearance.
Wishing is overrated
We've all got hopes and dreams, but we will lose sight of the bigger picture if all we do is spend time wishing, longing and lusting for things which we won't be able to bring within our reach until we move along and make it happen. "Wishing I'd waited and wishing I'd hurried up as well." This counterproductive wishful thinking is what we can't do to ourselves. Otherwise, our lives will just be one giant flashback of wishing on a star or blowing out candles. Look back and say you wished and you did, not that you wished that you did.
Make up with yourself
It's no secret that life isn't a walk in the park, no matter how easy or hard you may have it. We have conflicts, we lose people, we question people but in the process we may forget the person we are hurting the most is ourselves. When we doubt something in our lives, we are doubting our part in it – our worth. When faced in situations of adversity, take a minute to reconcile with yourself. Take a minute to love yourself. Take a minute to remind yourself, "What's done is done."
Don't carry the past with you
"I miss everything about my past, the good and the bad, but only because it won't come back." It's for this very reason it's okay to miss the past, but don't miss it so much that you want to see it again. Don't carry that baggage with you because the future holds too much. When you reconcile with yourself, reconcile with the past as well, but then leave it where it belongs – way, way behind you.
Don't worry about how long it takes
Life seems like a constant ticking clock, with each subsequent second getting louder and louder. It's like life is trying to remind us that it's limited, that we have to rush through things, that we just don't have time. I call BS. Look past all the deadlines, all the phases in life implying that you should have some things done or established by now, just because of societal constructions. Nothing will ruin your 20s more than thinking that you should have life figured out. Spoiler alert: you will never have life figured out and that's never a bad thing. "And I'm sorry it took so long, but you know, life happened." We forgive you, Adele. Just like we forgive ourselves.
As if that emotionally charged message shared with the world wasn't enough to make us love Adele even more, her new single, Hello, has us swooning about her voice and her brave soul which she bares into every song she sings. We only hope that we can encompass 25 with this much grace.
