20 Things in 20 Years

By the time you are reading this, I will be on the verge of experincing my first weekend as a “20-something”. At the time I am writting this, I am about four hours out from the start of my last weekend as a teenager.

It weird to think about. For the first 12 years of my life, the past six seemed like the goal. They are always portrayed as a time without worry, work, or thought of the future. There exists an idea that teenagers think that the world bends to their will and that they are invicible.

As a teenager I HATE(ED) the phrase “in the real world”. *Spoiler Alert* My life wasn’t all Barbie Pink and plastic,It wasn’t Breakfast Club or John Tucker Must Die. If anything it was Fan Girl, but we don’t need to get into that right now.

What I am trying to express is the fact that my teenage years, for many reasons and in many ways, did not look like a lot of other people’s. Some of that was of my own doing and was brought on by the choices I made. Some of it was brought on my things out of my control and by the decesions of others.

The further I get from the past six years the more objectively I will be able to remember them. For their good, and their bad, and their mediocre.

Now, I am not saying take life advice from a 20 year old. I have no clue what I am doing. Then again, I know some 50 year olds that are making it up as they go along…..So maybe just take all life advice with a grain of salt? (Unless its from someone who is like six, they seem to have it figured out)

Anyway here’s a list of 20 things I have learned over the course of my 20 years. Some of its original, some of its not. Take it all with the aforementioned grain of salt.

1. No one has it all figured out, everyone is just faking it. Welcome to the club!

2. Your validation as an artist, of any kind, cannot come from external sources. You are never going to feel like you are a real *insert type whatever type of artist you are here* because hit whatever goal. Sooner then you want to admit you will be hyper focused on achieving the next goal, and wonder what its its like to be a real, whatever type of artist you are. Meanwhile, there is someone who has only put a fraction of the effort you have into all of this and its how they introduce themselves….

3. “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind” – Dr. Seuss

4. Money is great! It gives people choices and, in many ways, power. Its unique in that it has power when it is in use and when it is being saved. That all being said, money comes and money goes. At the end of the day all you can really do is be smart with what you are doing with it when you have it.

5.”Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, but only to those who remember to turn on the light.” -J.K. Rowling

6. You only need to know the rules so you can bend, if not break the rules. In the arts, this is called style and groundbreaking. Everywhere else its just called infuriating.

7. Always have a distinguishing item in your checked baggage. Like seriously, as your packing your bag ask yourself what the weirdest thing is and make a mental note of it. If there’s nothing that weird or out of the ordinary, find a stuffed animal or something and toss it in there.

8. There is no boy in the world who is worth ruining your eyeliner over.

9. GO TO BED! OMG! My mother was right about everything, 92% of the time when I think the world is ending and that I can’t handle getting my laptop out of my backpack let alone actually writing an essay…..I just need to go to bed….Sleep Schedules, kids, its kind of like taxes. You need to know how to do it adult, but no one ever taught how.

10. It is better to give no gift, then to give a thoughtless one.

11. If you don’t walk through the library or bookstore with your mouth slightly a gap, and your eyes wide, as if you have never seen that many books in one place before….Then we probably can’t be friends.

12. “If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people” Star Wars, The Force Awakens

13. Things come and go. People come and go. Money comes and go. At the end of the day you have to feel secure and confident in who you are without relying on anything or anyone else. Otherwise someday, someone or something will leave you and you won’t know who you are, at all.

14. Music is one of the great wonders of this world. That being said differences in opinion are nothing to start WWIII over. Not liking a new album or song is not a reason to personally attack people. Its not brain surgery, just because someone makes a mistake doesn’t equate to the end of someone else’s life. (And if it does, I have to wonder if they would have perished regardless)

15. Most people are too focused on their own lives to notice, let alone comment on what you are doing with your own. Use this to your advantage.

16.”Sometimes you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, “You’re the prettiest princess in all the land.” I do it once a week.”-Jack Barakat

17. Exercise sucks. Walking around and or too places, doesn’t. Both are just as good for you. (No one has to know, it can just be our little secret)

18. At any moment, of any day, your entire life could unexpectedly change forever. Maybe for the good, maybe for the bad. But just because its a good change doesn’t mean their weren’t be tough times. And just because its a hard change doesn’t mean there weren’t be good times.

19. Cookies are always worth calories.

20.” I am champion of the people don’t believe in champions/ I got nothing but dreams inside/ Nothing but dreams/ I am just young enough to still believe/ Still believe/ But young enough not to know what to believe in/ Believe in/ Yeah/ If I can live through this/ If I can live through this/ If I can live through this/ I can do anything”- Fall Out Boy