With adulthood rapidly approaching I have decided to reflect on some very important thing I learned by my 18th birthday (cough, January 29th, cough). The things I’ve learned have been taught by family, friends, mentors, strangers, and myself. I hope you can learn something as I have in my long, tiresome, incredible 18 years on this Earth.

1.If you disappoint someone it is not your fault.

Despite my almost emotionless outer shell, I am and will always be a people pleaser. It took me forever to learn that it is almost impossible to satisfy everyone I come in contact with. You’re always going to disappoint someone and that is okay. Just don’t disappoint yourself.

2.Commit to the bit.

I am a strong lover of comedy. A group of friends who share my love of all things absurd and funny have come up with the manta “Commit to the bit”. If you’re going to make a joke or pull a stunt, then you have to full on pursue it all the way. This has taught me to just have fun with comedy and not try to take anything too seriously.

3.Bangs are fun for like a week.

As I was going down memory lane on my Facebook I got to encounter my many phases of bangs and not one was very pretty.

4.Don’t waste your time faking that you like something to fit in.

I can’t count the number of bands, book, TV shows that I have forced myself into so I could fit in with my friends. It’s a pathetic attempt to try and fit in with people who are very different from you. And it’s okay to have different tastes from people. You don’t have to like country music or the show Pretty Little Liars. On the flip side, it is okay to love things everyone else loves. You don’t have to think it is too “mainstream”. Heck, I still love One Direction. Like what you like, and hate what you hate. You don’t have to be ashamed.

5.You need people.

I used to, *cough* still *cough*, go through these weird phases where I wouldn’t text anyone, talk to anyone, and I would ultimately just close myself off and watch bad MTV shows. What all of this taught me is that it is okay to need people. You aren’t going to get rid of your problems by watching “My Life As Liz” and shutting off your phone. Sometimes you need to talk about your problems, which I still have a problem doing. Talk to someone.

6.Believe in something.

Over the past 18 years I have struggled with religion. I tried church and I tried not church and I still don’t know what’s going on, but I did get a lesson out of all of it. You don’t have to believe in a higher power, you don’t have to believe in luck, you don’t have to believe in microwaves, but you have to believe in something. While this is still something I struggle with, I have learned to start believing in myself.

7.If you decide to be the funny one, then you’ll be marked that forever.

Sometimes people don’t take you seriously, but you still get a ton of laughs and likes on your tweets. Compromise.

8.No one will ever have their future completely figured out.

In 8th grade I was handed a paper with a bunch of blank boxes that were supposed to represent my 4 year plan in high school. I look back at that idiotic piece of paper and laugh because my classes changed so much. Not to mention that I’m going to college this fall and I still have inquires about what I’m going to major in. Hell, it took me a couple months to decide on a college (Choose Red)! You’re allowed to change your mind. Hopefully life doesn’t hand me a piece of paper titled “Your Forever Plan” because I think the only thing I could write with confidence is “own a dog, probably 2.”

9.Hoes before bros.

Ladies, this is important. Sometimes boys are going to get in the way and we need to remember that sometimes watching bad movies and getting lost on 2am drive is better than hanging out with dumb boys or making out with f*** boys.

10.You can sleep when you’re dead.

My mom told me this phrase for the first time when I was in the 3rd grade and I have remembered it ever since. Why waste your time doing nothing when you could be doing anything else. This has since become our mantra for vacations. Instead of sleeping in hotel room we go out and conquer wherever we are.

11.Buzzfeed quizzes are not always going to be accurate, but sometimes they are.

Sure, they might have completely missed the mark by guessing I’m a Sagittarius based off of my music preferences, but they nailed me when they guessed my favorite princess was Ariel.

12.Take lots of pictures.

My mother taught me how to smile and pose for photos at a young age. Looking back at totes full of pictures I am so happy to have memories on file. Take a bunch of selfies, take candids of your friends, take pictures of your food, take pictures of scenery. Capture what will make you remember.

13. Eyebrows are so important.

This needs no explanations. Shout out to many YouTube tutorials.

14.Look good for you.

Thinking back on my horrid middle school days I think of all the mornings I struggled to curl my hair and carefully plan outfits to impress my friends. As a senior in high school I wear whatever is clean or I feel comfortable in. When I do dress up or put on a little more make up than usual it’s for myself rather than society.

15. Nothing compares to the feeling of wearing a suit.

I can not begin to explain the confidence that is felt when you are walking around in a nicely tailored suit. I would like to give a shout out to my pink suit for giving me more confidence than any self help book ever could.

16. Watch as many movies as you can.

There are so many movies I have watched on a whim that I have loved so much. My grandfather passed on his passion for random movies to me and for that I am grateful.

17. Goals first. Dreams second.

In middle school I had big dreams of being on Broadway while simultaneously being the weather girl, but then I learned to set goals. I stopped dreaming and started realistically thinking about my life. I think that is when my depressing realism started. As soon as you accomplish what you need to, then you can focus on making a dream come true.

18. Perfectionism is overrated.

I have learned that not everything will always end up pristine and that sometimes you need to live by the motto “good enough”. Don’t stress small details.

 

Though I have learned quite a bit more like the quadratic formula, that grey nails look amazing, and that vanilla Dr. Pepper is a new religion, these were 18 of the things I could think of being the most important. While January 29th rapidly approaches I can just sit back and hope that the quiz I took at age 7 was not true and I will get to live way beyond the age of 18.