25 Little Things You Should Learn To Let Go Of By The Time You’re 25

1. Your fear of doing things alone. You don’t always need other people to do things. Sometimes it’s nice to do things by yourself and for yourself.

2. Why you’re not anywhere close to finding your forever person. Life is not about finding someone. All that time you’ve spent looking you could’ve been really living. There’s more to just enjoying the moment, it’s about letting yourself actually be there. Be in every moment.

3. Having insecurities. We all have them. Let go of the idea that you’re a bad or weak person for occasionally being insecure. You’re allowed to have insecurities. You’re human. Just try to work on embracing them, rather than fighting them or pretending they’re not there.

4. Why the people you wanted to stay, left. Will you ever find the real answer to this question?

5. Feeling like you’re not enough. I think everyone feels this way at some point in their lives. Take a deep breath, and then let it go.

6. What your life would’ve been like if you did this or that differently. You’ll drive yourself insane constantly thinking what if. Learn to love the present. Let the what ifs go.

7. Why certain people won’t meet your expectations in dating and relationships. If they don’t meet your expectations, leave. You don’t have to be with people who disappoint you over and over again.

8. Why your past relationships failed. There are a variety of potential reasons, and you’ll never know which ones are true and which ones your imagination is trying to convince you are true. Don’t ask questions that don’t have answers when it comes to exes and failed relationships.

9. Trying to make love exist where it doesn’t. If you don’t love someone, don’t try to convince yourself that you do. Love is there, or it isn’t. Don’t lie to yourself about love because you’ll probably end up hurting someone else along the way.

10. Whether or not your life is happening according to plan. There will be forks in the road, mountains you can’t climb, shit that hits the fan and whatever other metaphor you want to use that explains sometimes life won’t happen the way you thought it would. Learn to be open and flexible, and try to face unexpected change with courage rather than fear.

11. Wondering whether or not you’ll be single forever. Learn to find happiness from within instead of looking for it in someone else. You don’t need a significant other to be happy.

12. Why your body doesn’t look the way it did when you were 18. Your body is incredible and it goes through incredible changes throughout your entire life. Be grateful it wakes up every morning, and has a heart that keeps you going.

13. Comparing your life to your friends on social media. Social media is like applying concealer on a zit. You put it on when you leave the house so other people don’t have to look at your red and angry pimple, but when you come back home and wash your face, that pimple is still there and probably just as red and angry. Social media is everyone’s concealer. It just makes them look better than they actually are.

14. Comparing anything to your friends on social media. Whether it’s your possessions, your relationships, your body, whatever, just don’t. See above for reference.

15. Wishing you can change the things you just can’t. There’s a lot of things in this world that you can change, that you can work to change, but some things you just can’t. You can’t change your past, and you can’t always change the way other people feel about you. There’s a lot of things you can’t change that you don’t have to feel bad about. It’s not your fault.

16. Feeling bad for not wanting to do things. If you don’t want to do something, don’t. It’s that simple. You don’t have to apologize or feel bad about it. It’s your life, you decide what you do, and what you don’t.

17. How many friends you do or don’t have. Popularity somehow seems to creep up on us even after high school. Don’t do things for popularity, and don’t worry about the quantity of your friendships, worry about the quality.

18. How much money you do or don’t have. Money and happiness aren’t always proportional. It’d be nice if we could all live in our own idea of luxury, but just getting by takes a lot of work too. Don’t fault yourself for it. Getting by is an accomplishment. Do the best that you can.

19. Why you’re not working the job of your dreams. You’ve been on this earth for 25 years. There’s still time. Keep working towards those dreams, and don’t ever give up on them.

20. Your fear of running into your ex. Don’t ever let your ex keep you from doing things. Whether you hate them, still love them, or never got closure, live your life like they’re not a part of it anymore, because they aren’t, and whether that decision was mutual or not, you can’t let them stop you from living.

21. Whether or not you’re settling. Strive to make the best life you can, to surround yourself with the people you love and the people who love you right back.

22. Your fear of change. The scariest part about change is not knowing what happens after it. You don’t always have to know what comes next. Sometimes you figure it out along the way.

23. Being embarrassed of your current situation (whatever that may be). You don’t have to be embarrassed about your current situation because if you’re feeling self conscious about it, clearly you don’t want this to be your situation forever. Whether you’re embarrassed about your job, or your home, or anything else, if you’re unhappy with your current life work to change it, but don’t be embarrassed, it’s exhausting.

24. The inability to accept things ending. You probably already knew this, but not everything lasts forever. Accept the endings that are difficult, because it’s impossible to move on until you do.

25. What other people think of you. You probably have more important things to worry about than what everyone else thinks of you. Be yourself, be the person you want to be, because the people who judge you for that, are most likely too scared to be who they truly are, the way you do.