21 Lessons You Deserve To Learn By 21

1. No one will have an opinion other than their own. It might change, but it will always be an opinion that belongs to them.

2. Actions done with good intentions can still end up hurting others.

3. You won’t forget him, but you will move on.

4. Revisiting your favorite childhood/adolescent characters once you’ve experienced more of life will give you a new appreciation (or lack thereof) for them.

5. There are still elements of magic in the “real world”. The adventure of childhood is preserved in having to look for them.

6. Compliments on personality and who you are will always trump “wow, did you lose weight?”

7. Adulthood is not a popularity contest. Pleasantly so.

8. You are worth more than you realize and worth way more than some might try to convince you.

9. You have survived what once was the hardest thing you’ve been through. Rinse, repeat.

10. Some live by impulse, others by careful planning. Both can be as faulty as they are beneficial. It’s a matter of preference and personality; not superiority.

11. The most non-experience life lessons from people outside your age group.

12. You will appreciate the bad experiences and even the ones that gave you them.

13. You will want to comfort your middle school self and your high school self and any previous self that thought it would never get better.

14. You will be proud of those previous selves for hanging in there and being a part of who you are now.

15. You might see older/younger people out in public and instead of judging, consider who they were/might become. Maybe even who they are right now.

16. There will be calms before the storms and storms before the calms and you’ll learn to roll with the punches because who the hell knows what’s next?

17. Partying will get old. You’ll try to revive your party-going self and fail. It’s okay. All good things must end.

18. That problem you think you have that is 100% your own and 100% your fault? You’ll find someone else has the same one. Go figure! (You’re not as alone as you feel.)

19. You are not responsible for the messed up situations/people of this world. Please re-read.

20. You don’t need to “find” love. It’s all around you. It exists past the romantic sense. (See #5)

21. You have so much more life to live. As hard as it gets, be grateful. Life is an experience.