Mistakes Made and Lessons Learnt before Turning 21.

I'm sure you're sick of reading this by now, but there's not long now until I turn 21.

I thought it would be interesting to really look back over the past few years and see how much I've learnt about myself and the way I live my life.

Although I'm still incredibly naieve in most aspects, I've made some pretty substantial mistakes and have learnt some important life lessons.

Mistakes Made

• Not getting enough sleep. “But Christie”, you ask, “How can I sleep when there are so many mistakes to make?!” Don't worry, you have an entire decade's worth of days and evenings to irrevocably fuck up your life.

• Being addicted to social media. He liked that picture of your cat on Facebook, and then you retweeted his tweet, and then you trolled all of his friends’ Instagrams to try to find out if he was dating someone else, and then he posted a news article to your wall that related to this inside joke you guys have, and by the way, it is a beautiful day outside.
• Washing your hair too much. Yes, too much, refer to this post.
• Wasting money on restaurant meals. I spent 5 years of my late teens dragging my hungover ass out of bed and feeding $20 worth of food in to my mouth. If only I had skipped maybe one of these a week, I’d have $60 extra for grocery money, or for one GIANT feast that we could all share. Who am I kidding, get your own feast.

• Being health-bipolar. During the day we’re drinking green juice and going to yoga. At night we’re out partying with friends and ending the night with 4 am fast food. The former does not detract from the latter — your body is just confused as shit.

• Spending all your time in a relationship. Friends of mine who were with the same guy all through their teens are lamenting it now. Before you settle down, you gotta get some strange. To truly appreciate the good men, you have to road test the bad ones. 

• Or chasing after someone who is completely disinterested in you. Does he never ask you questions about yourself? Swoon. Does he take at least 24 hours to text you back? Nice. Are you in his phone as “Mike” so that the other girls he’s hooking up with don’t know? Yayyy!

• Get a long-term pet with a significant other. So you and your boyfriend decided to drop a few of your start-up paychecks on Chuckles the $1,200 cockapoo. If you don’t last as a couple, Chuckles is a child of divorce, which we all know is a gateway to drugs and juvenile delinquency.

• Drunk texting/dialing. And rolling over in the morning dreading to look at your phone.

•  Hoard $15 H&M trend pieces instead of saving for something expensive and timeless. A cheapo peplum top  or pleather leggings are always bound to go out of style. Like, tomorrow.

• Splurging on beauty products that you know in your heart you won’t use. Sephora is in business because “If I just buy this $75 unicorn-horn face powder, everything in my life will immediately improve and I will know what the fuck I am doing”.

• Spending a lot of energy on envying someone you have decided is your nemesis. She is the 2.0 version of you, in possession of the career, boyfriend, wardrobe and apartment of your dreams. Or she is just an acquaintance whose superiority complex and complete lack of self-awareness annoyed the shit out of you. Take a breath, and let it go.

• Letting harsh judgments of your friends’ boyfriends’ (or your friends’ harsh judgments of your boyfriend) tear apart close friendships. He’s a tool. Just let everyone figure it out on their own time.

• Letting your office treat you like an intern when you haven't interned in years. Yes, your mum’s over-enthusiastic friends are right when they tell you “how lucky you are to have a job in this economy.” But being a full-fledged employee with a salary who is regularly told to get coffee for supervisors and carry heavy boxes is bullshit.

 Making mistakes is more important than we think. How will we learn without having made them?

Lessons Learnt

• It's important to have an opinion, don't let people beat you down because you don't have the same one as them.
• There is no great love without struggle
• Going through the bad makes you appreciate the good even more
• Don't be so quick to judge
• Be the best version of you
• Everything you want in life doesn't arrive all at once, things take time
• Be kind to yourself
• Don't wait until things are gone to appreciate them
• The most important relationship you have is the one you have with yourself. That one will always be with you.
• Value the opinion of people who are closest to you, not the complete strangers
• It's okay if a friendship comes to an end
• Because you will lose friends
• But you will make new ones
• Look after your health - It's more important than money could ever be
• Being confident is vital in life
• Working towards what you want instead of what you think you should be doing will become what your most proud of.
• Things really do happen for a reason
• If it's meant to be, then it will be.
• Cutting people out is hard, but necessary
• Never let somebody tell you what you should be doing with your life
• Everybody needs rest once in a while
• People will do anything to make you feel bad in order to make themselves feel good
• Work hard for what you love. If you want something, then you work for it. Don't wait for it to just fall into your lap
• Stop worrying about every single thing
• People do shitty things, don't rise to them
• You can be in a relationship that makes you so happy, you forget the rest of the bullshit you went through.

  

What I'm getting at here, is slow the fuck down. Adulthood doesn’t happen overnight. Enjoy the decade — appreciate your wide-open future and perky boobs while you still can.