Wow. Wow. Wow. I turn 21 this month. Which is crazy. 21 seemed like so far away and now it's here. So here is a list of 21 things I've learned by 21:
Listen to your intuition: When you get that gut feeling that something is right or wrong, don’t ignore it. Those butterflies in your stomach are real. It seems crazy in itself , but you often know the answer before you even realize it.
Be authentic: Be a real person. People don’t want to be around someone who “has it all together” but actually doesn’t. That' s fake. Be real with your friends and everyone you come into contact with, you mentor, you meet on the street. People are people.
Find the humor in it all: Life is crazy, life is rocky, life is not always going to be happy. So find the humor. Find the good. Things happen for a reason so let it happen.
There is more than one way to do something: If what you’ve been doing doesn’t seem to be working, that doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong, there is probably just a more efficient way. So think of five different ways you could approach the situation, then try them all and see what works.
Take your pants off before you get in the shower: You know, sometimes you are just extremely tired and all you want to do is take a shower and crawl into bed. Just don’t forget to get FULLY undressed first… Pants in the shower doesn’t really work out.
Go to the gym TODAY not tomorrow: If you keep telling yourself, oh I will tomorrow… tomorrow will never come. Don’t kid yourself kid. We have all been there... trust me on that.
Don’t make excuses for people who aren’t pulling their weight: So if a guy texts you occasionally but then calls you and tells you he misses you, then ghosts you for a week - it will probably not work out. Move on. Peace out girl scout.
You will meet people who dislike you even though you know they have no reason to: Don’t waist your time trying to change their minds. Move on, you've got bigger fish to fry.
Crying in the shower is okay: It’s been a long day, a long week, a long month… It’s okay to cry in the shower. Go for it. No one can see and if they do they will look at you and say, “same.”
Dry shampoo is actually a gift from the gods: Like I said, a shower is great but sometimes you just want to crawl into bed and worry about your hair in the morning. And if you were like me and cursed with greasy locks, dry shampoo is a best friend for life.
Remember where you parked your car: Spending an afternoon (more like 6 hours) looking for your car all around campus is not very fun. Trust me. Remember where you parked. At least a little bit.
Travel far and wide: My year of 20 was my biggest year of travel of my life and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. Go as far and as wide as you can. If an opportunity arises, take it by the horns and go. Some of my favorite memories have been while traveling and I can’t wait to see where I go for year 21.
Be weird: Why be original when you can be weird? Let's be honest about that. Come on y'all.
Stop saying your sorry: You have nothing to be sorry about so stop apologizing for letting people down. You are being yourself and don’t worry if other people are happy about it. This has been the hardest thing for me to look past my entire life. I apologize for things that are not my fault, or I can't fix. I could kick myself for the number of moments where I say I'm sorry instead of standing up for myself.
Don’t forget to breath occasionally: Just a moment. Not too much or you might get behind. But a few breaths are good pal. And if you take too many breaths, it's all good. We all get a little behind sometimes.
Give yourself an afternoon off to watch TV or take a nap: I don’t care if you are the freaking president of the united states. He totally takes the day off to golf so I don't even want to hear it. You deserve a nap! You deserve the afternoon off! So take it. This semester, those have been my Wednesdays. And I'm forever grateful for them.
You get out of this world what you put into it: Look at the world with joy and you will get joy. Look at the world with a sour opinion, and people will be sour back.
Get into bed by 10: Trust me, you will feel better.
Take more pictures: I look back and wish I had more pictures with friends. We aren’t together at Berry for much longer, so lets capture every moment. Also, bad pictures never go away. Soooo just let it happen… ask my work pals. There are about 35 decent pictures of me on the internet and 10,000 horrible ones on the server that I get either texted or emailed on the daily. It's fine.
It’s okay to stay in bed: I had/have a ridiculous amount of FOMO. I have forced myself to go out when I probably shouldn’t have. And needless to say, I didn’t have a good time when I did this. So take it from me, it’s okay to not go out. Stay in bed. read a book, see a movie. Your friends will understand.
Coffee is the answer: Have a cup of coffee, the day will get better I promise.
-- Lex --