"Things I wish I knew at 21"

I recently read an article written to people in their twenties. Older people giving younger people words and advice to live by. I decided to reflect on my own life and compare it to these statments and ideas presented in the article. I decided to only copy the titels, but you can find the full article here.
 
 
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1. You should never judge your own life progress based on other people.
This is something I think probably everyone needs to work on. I know I compare myself to others, which sometimes might help me in a good way but it will also occasionally bring me down and might make me depressed.
 
2. Just stop wasting time with that guy who will NEVER COMMIT. 
That is something I would have wished to understand earlier and what I recommend everyone to do, because it is just going to end up in a shitty situation leaving you feeling worthless and like a pile of shit.
 
3. I wish I'd known that college was the only time I would ever live with — or that close to — so many of my best friends.
This is something I try to do, but also something you must realize that is not always possible. You need your own space and the time for yourself, when you are not in school or working. Being a student and working beside your studies will make you want to spend time alone with yourself.
 
4. Stop stressing about the fact that you're not totally in love with your first job.
I must say, that I did really love my first job. I got the opportunity to start working at a clothing store when I was about to turn 16 after being there on "practical training" for a week, and I did work there for 4 years. So to all of you younger people that still have your "practical traning" to do in high school, make sure to make the best out of it.

 
5. Don't assume that you're just going to have it together when you hit 21. 
Yeah. Lol. Ain't happening. And to be really honest, I do not feel like I need to have everything figured out. I feel confident with what life has to offer while not trying too hard to fit all the pieces of the puzzle.
 
6. You might have fewer friends than ever, but don't feel lonely. 
This is something I can and cannot agree with. I do not feel like I have fewer friends, but I do feel that the relationships with the friends I do have are more sustainable than the ones you make in high school.
 
7. Hangovers get exponentially worse as you age. 
So not cool. But personally it can vary from having nothing at all to "the end of the world is here, let me die already and I do not want to live anohter second".
 
8. Travel now (even if it drains your already minimal bank account).
This is something that I need to realize. But I do have a hard time accepting it and it would be terrifying using all of the savings (not that there is much) on travels and expericences. But at the same time, I do understand the fact that when you get older you have less freedom and more responsibilites (morgage, kids, etc).

 
9. Soak in your friends.
This is something I try to do, but sometimes I feel like I fail at it. Mostly because of the reasons mentioned in number 3.
 
10. Wear your retainer. 
Yeeah.. This is not anything I can relate to.
 
11. Read the books! 
In this case reading books means reading books for all of your classes, which I think you should. If it is for a language or something similar, but as we have discussed with some of our teachers in school, it is totally unnecessary to learn college books by heart, since we actually do have the internet right at our fingertips.
 
12. Don't feel like you have to spend your money on dive bars every night. 
Yes, this is something I need to understand.

 
13. Leaving passive-aggressive Post-it notes for roommates about cleaning up their mess isn't the best form of communication.
I am happy to say that this is not anything I do. My thoughts on things like these are; if you cannot say it to the roommate's face, it is not too important. And also to choose your fights. If you nag someone about doing something over and over again, it is just going to go into one ear and immediatley out through the other.
 
14. Stop freaking out that you don't know EXACTLY what you want to do with your life yet. 
This has kind of the same answer as number five.
 
15. Call your mom more often.
I wish I would be a better child and grandchild and actally call my parents and grandparents more often. I am just very terrible at calling people "just to chat". For me it is easier just to go see them, but that is not happening too often either because of studies and work.
 
16. Whatever money you're able to save, spend it on experiences, not materialistic things.
In this case, it would be food for me. I need to stop spending so much money on food and start experiencing things. I do not buy too many materialistic things, but mostly when I do, it is something a little more expensive.

 
17. Treat your body well. 
Trying to do this right now. Eating less of the bad stuff and actually eating only the amount needed to nourish my body. Recently I have been more motivaed to actually make my body not only look better, but actually be healtiher. We only have one body, so might as well treat it well.
 
18. Picture two lines on a graph with your age at the horizontal axis and your time at the vertical. One line represents freedom, and the other represents responsibility. As you get older, the responsibility line on the graph keeps moving up, and the freedom line keeps moving down.
No need to comment this.
 
19. Write things down. 
Something I suck at. I wish I was the person to keep a hand writen journal with everyday thoughts and happenings. I love looking back at my blog and reading what I used to do and if something in particular had happened. Though writing a journal by hand would be more personal and even better to read in a couple of years, since you cannot be too personal and tell anything on your blog.

 
20. Listen to your heart more. 
When it comes to the situation, I think you actually do listen to your heart a lot. But many times you should listen to your head because your heart is too naive.
 
21. Have more fun.
No explanation needed and no further comments.

 

all of the pictures are from my we heart it