Today is my 25th birthday.

For my 25th birthday, I made a chocolate chunk cookie cake – frosted with homemade buttercream – to share with my coworkers. Recipe coming soon, assuming it tastes good! Waiting until lunch time to share it with people. 😀

The big 2-5. These are the only fun facts that I’m aware of about turning twenty-five: I can now rent a car. And I’m a quarter of a century old young.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make a list of twenty-five things I’ve learned in twenty-five years. Because I am extremely old and wise. LOL JK. This list serves mostly as a reminder to myself. Because I still have to drill some of this stuff into my own head all the time at times. 🙂 Enjoy, and let me know if you have any sage advice for me since I’m feeling all philosophical today.

PS: Novel ahead. You’ve been forewarned.

PSS: As a general disclaimer, these are twenty-five lessons that hold true for me. I’m not here to tell you how to live your life; only to express what I’ve learned over the years and hope that maybe it’ll help someone else along the way. 🙂

01. It’s amazing what happens when you simply just start DOING things and getting stuff done. Rather than procrastinating/letting the anxiety overtake you/panicking about failing… here’s a hint: try just you know, doing. Less worrying; more doing.

02. Trust your gut instincts. I know this sounds cliche, but it’s true. They tend to be right 97.7% of the time.

03. Your metabolism will start to slow down in your early 20s. And it’s going to continue to slow down even more every single year. Take care of yourself now so that you can enjoy your later years.

04. You are going to have a falling out with more than one person in your life, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it hurts like hell at the time, but in the end it’s probably for the best. Unfortunately, sometimes the most toxic relationships and situations tend to be the ones that are the most difficult to leave.

05. Have a little confidence in yourself for goodness’ sake. You are stronger than you know, and you have so much more potential than you could ever imagine. You just need to keep trying.

06. What other people think (or do not think) of you has absolutely zero bearing on your worth as a human being. What they think of you doesn’t matter. [Repeat after me: it doesn’t matter it doesn’t matter it DOESN’T MATTER.]

07. I’m gonna reiterate number six because I think it is worth repeating: other peoples’ opinions of you are truly not a reflection of who you actually are. Their opinions are based on their perceptions. Only you know who you really are (and sometimes I don’t even know who I am).

08. All that being said, the majority of people don’t give much thought about you at all. Seriously. Most people are too worried about what other people think of them to be worried about you (plus some people just, you know, don’t think at all). This is slightly depressing, and sometimes difficult to believe. But it’s true and it’s also very freeing when you finally start to let it sink in.

09. If you are having a really difficult time with your mental state of well being, seek help before it’s too late. You’re not weak. There is nothing “wrong” with you. You’re not broken. Depression and anxiety {and other mental illnesses for that matter} are very real monsters in this world. And there is still a very large stigma attached to all psychiatric issues. But the only way to heal is to seek help in some way, shape, or form.

10. Other people aren’t always going to understand or respect your decisions or life situations. Deal with it. Translation: get over it and continue doin’ your thing, because at the end of the day, the primary person who has to deal with the consequences of your actions is you.

11. Your parents are human beings with hopes, dreams, fears, and flaws. Just like the rest of us. And they probably sacrificed more for you than you could ever know. Attempt to let go of any resentment you may hold towards them; in most cases, they were probably doing their best.

12. There’s a reason for the “do not mix with alcoholic beverages” warning on your bottle of antidepressants. Heed said warning or you’re gonna have a bad time.

13. Bills and finances are an unfortunate fact of life. Learn to plan and budget your income accordingly. Or it will come back to bite you in the arse.

14. Always, always, always be kind. Even when it seems pointless, just be kind anyway. It makes a much more significant impact than you may think.

15. Allow yourself to be a beginner. Very few people are instantly amazing at anything. I might have a natural knack for baking, but I have also been baking pretty consistently since I was about twelve years old. I’ve had plenty of failures since then, and I still fail from time to time. But guess what? The only reason I’m good at baking now is because I have years of trial and error behind me. So if you’re just starting something new, remember that you will encounter snafus and you will want to give up. Keep going anyway; you will eventually get past the “beginner level.”

16. Here’s one courtesy of a former work colleague: before you make any decision, always ask yourself how “future you” is going to feel as a result of your actions. For example, sometimes I get a craving for Taco Bell. But I know that if I eat TB’s food in any quantity, my body will punish me the next day. So I usually remind myself that ten minutes of that delicious Crunchwrap Supreme is not worth the inevitable bloating and indigestion the following day.

17. If you have dirty dishes that need to be cleaned, just do the dang dishes. Yeah it sucks, but you know what sucks even more? Nasty, crusty food that’s stuck to the plates stronger than super glue, and murky, putrid dishwater. Do the dang dishes.

18. Your overall well-being [physical and mental] is what should always come first. It sounds selfish, but it’s so true. Take care of yourself first; everything else is and should always be secondary.

19. There are going to be times in which you just can’t figure out why someone is doing something, and it’s going to drive you nuts. It’s not worth your time and energy trying to figure out why someone is being an assclown, so move on.

20. Drink more water. If you think you drink enough, you probably need to drink another glass or two.

21. Internships and experience in your field >>>> your GPA. While maintaining a high grade point average is impressive and generally a good thing to do, it doesn’t really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Work experience matters so much more when it comes to landing a full-time position.

22. Your body is important. But it’s not all that you are. I believe in taking care of my physical body, and I believe that it’s okay to want to be attractive. But what I look like is not what defines me, and the same is true for you. You are so much more than how you look on the outside. What’s on the inside counts for a lot more.

23. Don’t put other people on a pedestal. Just don’t. I’ve had issues with this my entire life, and I have a feeling that it has more to do with my own self-esteem problems than other people. But seriously. People are just people. They may be good-looking, talented, and you might think they’re “better” than you. But they’re not better than you, nor are you better than them. Other people still have their flaws, things they suck at, things that keep them up at night, and best of all, their shit still stinks. Realizing that we’re all just bags of flesh is very liberating.

24. Spend money on food that is good for your body, and learn how to cook. Cooking really isn’t that hard. Even I do not cook nearly as much as I’d like. [I hate dishes with the passion of a thousand burning suns, if you couldn’t tell. And baking takes precedence over cooking, obvz.] But really, cooking is simple, and it can make all the difference in your overall health, if you do it correctly. It is also an easy way to impress a hottie. 😉

25. And last, but certainly not least: Slow the eff down. Stop thinking so fast; stop being in a rush to get everything done in a particular amount of time. Because honestly? The whole point of life really is to simply enjoy the moment and take things as they come.

<3