19 Things I Wish I Had Known Before 19

People love to say we grow up too fast, and honestly, I probably wouldn't disagree with them. Children with smartphones know how to work Snapchat filters better than how to work a bicycle. They hold their various tablets at the dinner table better than they can hold conversations at the dinner table. Our generation was caught in a crossfire of technology interlacing with an old school world.

As I grew up, I always wondered what it would have been like if I would have had the knowledge, heart, and soul I have today, in a younger, more naive me. What it

Here are 19 things I wish I had known before 19.

1. There is love and there is lust in this world. You will claim you know the difference, but you're going to fall for one lost in thought that you're simply entrapped in the other.

2. Always, always, always eat the brownie. It's a whole 300 calories, and you'll surprisingly live.

3. People photograph what they are most afraid of losing. You can say its not true, but look around, see it for yourself.

4. Carry a lighter in your purse. You might not use it, but you would be surprised how many people need one.

5. You will never remember how tired you were, but you will remember the nights you stayed out way too late with your friends, and ate too much food at midnight, and talked about absolutely nothing and everything.

6. You won't understand everyone. And you won't understand why people do the things they do. Make peace with that.

7. There are friends, and there is your family. One has blood, but blood is not always thicker than water.

8. The world does not revolve around anyone, no matter how hard they try.

9. Always give money to the homeless. Whether they use it on drugs, alcohol, food for themselves, or to help their family, they need the spare change more than you.

10. Grades are important, but the hands you shake along the way are 100% more important.

11. Do not let anyone belittle you. Ever. Eleanor Roosevelt said herself, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

12. If you're having a really bad day. I'm talking just a no good day. Cry. Yell. Throw a pillow at the wall. Listen to sad music and let yourself go. Then move on. You don't have enough days to be sad in this lifetime.

13. Never underestimate the divine power of a bubble bath, a glass of wine, or a really good hug.

14. Wear good underwear always. For you, and not a cute guy.

15. Dance a lot. Dance like no one is watching, or do the windshield wipers move, or the classic sprinkler. And those who dance with you, those are your forever friends.

16. Give people time, and give them space. Whats meant to be will always be yours.

17. Paradise isn't always a far island way across the world. Sometimes it's a good cup of coffee with better company, on a porch, with an slightly above average view.

18. Unless it knocks your socks off, makes you dizzy, and creates a smile so big it aches your checks, it's probably not worth it.

19. This life is yours. And very often you will forget that. But do not ever let someone take it from you. You can do anything you want, and you can be anything you want to be. This is about you.

Make mistakes, and learn from them. You are only nineteen once, and you are only young once. Don't worry, life has a beautiful way of working itself out.