28 Signs You’re Wasting Your Youth

1. You spend an inordinate amount of time before any moderate-to-big decision worrying — not about how you feel about it, but how others might perceive it.

2. You have already given up on several goals because you deem yourself “not good enough.”

3. You are putting off a move to the city of your dreams because you are too afraid that you won’t be able to make new friends or start a new social life.

4. You don’t participate in hobbies that you could easily pursue in your area for fear of looking incompetent or slow in your group.

5. You aren’t learning the language you have always wanted to learn, even though the materials to start are all right at your fingertips.

6. You are staying in a relationship not particularly because you want to be with this person for the long term, but because it is preferable to being alone at a time when most of your social group is paired up.

7. You are constantly updating social media to subtly show people that you are popular and successful.

8. You are staying at a job you greatly dislike because you feel that, if you give it up for something less prestigious, people will judge you for it.

9. You are spending your money on frivolous things like clothes and going out, when what you really want is to save up enough money to travel.

10. You are not going on dates that are offered to you for fear of being rejected.

11. You are perpetually putting off getting in shape/eating better because you imagine that there will always be time to do it later.

12. You are constantly denying yourself foods you want because you want to look a certain way with no flexibility.

13. You are hanging out more with people who are professionally or socially “important” than people with whom you feel a genuine connection/whom you know actually care about you.

14. You are not wearing the kinds of clothes you feel best in because you perceive them to be “not in style,” “not a good label,” or “not meant for someone who isn’t skinny.”

15. You are not even applying for jobs that you want because you imagine your chances of getting them to be too slim.

16. You don’t approach certain people that you are very attracted to for fear that they are “out of your league” or “would never give you a chance.”

17. You don’t sleep with someone when you want to because you think that they or someone else would think of you as “easy” or “a slut.”

18. You spend hours agonizing over small flaws you perceive in yourself, instead of thinking about how this is the most beautiful and young and energetic you will ever be.

19. You beat yourself up over small failures and refuse to acknowledge all of the wonderful things that you have done and are capable of.

20. You allow other people — like your parents or significant other — to make decisions for you, even decisions you are not comfortable with.

21. You are constantly allowing yourself to be pressured into going out when you prefer to stay home and enjoy yourself, because society has taught you to equate “going out to bars or parties” with “doing something useful with your time.”

22. You never attend all of the various art exhibits, markets, or festivals that you always tell yourself you really want to go to this year.

23. You don’t take the time to get to know and explore your city that you were so excited about moving to in the first place.

24. You spend all of your time with the same group of people that you feel stifled by because the prospect of going out and meeting new people takes too much mental energy.

25. Your only real hobby/spare time activities are centered around drinking, even if you’re not that much of a drinker.

26. You are putting yourself into heavy debt for things you don’t really need or want, but peer pressure has convinced you you should have.

27. You are lying to people about yourself because you think that they will like you better if you pretend to be more social, or more experienced, or more cultured.

28. You find it hard to be happy for your friends who achieve life milestones/goals because it makes you embarrassed that you do not have the exact same things yet (even if you don’t even want them).

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