Important Pieces Of Advice For Young 20-Somethings

1. Never believe anyone who says they know what they’re doing. Some people will be more believable than others. They are all still lying.

2. Move away from your parents. Five minutes to five countries away, be out of their house. Be in control of your own living situation. Sit in the driver’s seat and start experiencing things on your own.

3. Get a gym pass because a. it’s good for you, b. all your friends are getting one or already have one and talk about their ‘sessions’ and c. you see too many ‘motivational’ pictures and read too many ‘transformation’ stories on social media. Go to two classes and call it a year. Or… fall in love with the feeling of sweating and working your ass off so make going a habit and be really good at working towards a long-term goal. (I am the former.)

4. Learn how to say no. Learn this in a way you don’t need to always explain yourself or apologize.

5. Own up to your mistakes and make sure you know what went wrong and what to do better next time. This is called growing up.

6. Take advantage of all the free food you can get. Pretend you’re still in college… except realize you’re not. That pizza at 2am was good, except not like it used to be now that you’re sitting at a desk at 8am, already two cups of coffee in, knowing you can’t leave until 5pm. Tick, tock, tick, tock…

7. Pay the bills. Water, gas, electricity, Internet, cable, insurance(s), start investing in your 401K plan. Pay off your student loans (ugh). Realize life is expensive as shit. Constantly wonder how your parents did it.

8. Think about your hopes, dreams and goals constantly. Think about what you can do to be better. Think about your dream job. Envision all of this becoming a reality – your reality.

9. Do you love your job so much it doesn’t even feel like ‘work’? I bet not. Realize this may take awhile to find, so don’t rush it. Also realize having a job is a blessing, so be thankful.

10. Realize everybody at work says “Ugh, it’s Monday” and “Happy Friday! Can’t wait for the weekend!” Don’t believe this. Don’t spend your weeks dreading each day and waiting for Friday. Enjoy each day as if it were your last.

11. Be more comfortable in your own skin. Learn to love yourself. Stare at yourself in the mirror and become familiar with your features. Then think about the fact that you are the only single living version of yourself in this world (mind blown). Your life is precious. What are you going to do with it?

12. Tell everybody you know what you’re doing. Be the latter in #1. The more you say it, the more you’ll believe it… Right?

13. Don’t obsess over age. Realize everybody does this. Yes, there will be better years than others, but each different year makes you, you. You will be always young compared to some people and always older compared to other people.

14. Nobody goes on their deathbed and says their biggest regret in life is not watching enough Netflix. (Food for thought.)

15. Always do you. It’s your life, nobody else’s. Every decision you make will always come from you at the end of the day. Life is made of choices and paths, and you get to choose every single one. What or who helps you decide is up to you. Appreciate it because it’s your life and you only get one.