5 Things You Should Know If You Were Born After 1995
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” — Maya Angelou
There’s always a moment in everyone’s life that one wishes they could travel back in time and tell their young self all the life lessons they’ve learned, just to get a second chance to do it all over again — or at least tweak a few things.
Now since we can’t take back time, I’ll do my good samaritan work by passing along my handy wisdom.
Here are my five useful and practical tips I wish I knew going into my 20’s:
1. Invest In Quality, Over Quantity
Whenever I move from apartment to apartment I have noticed how much “stuff” I go through. Particularly in regards to furniture and clothing. I’ve broken my back carrying a cheap sofa down from my third-floor flat just to see it break halfway down the stairs, or garbage bags that were tearing apart full of fast fashion tops. All for what, just to save a few bucks?
Invest in timeless pieces of clothing that can be versatile, and even more important they are of quality. When it comes to furnishings do your part and budget for the long run. I’m talking about purchasing real craftsmanship dining sets, to antiqued mirrors. Pieces that could last you a lifetime, and also scream lots of character. You don’t want another cookie-cutter coffee table, trust me.
2. Spend Your Time Wisely
The moments I was drinking and eating my check away instead of looking for another source of income would have made saving a lot easier going into my thirties. Please don’t get me wrong, I cherish the memories I have captured with friends, but there could have been a limit to my gluttony. However, when you’re a twenty-something-year-old, you tend to socialize more often and usually with temporary friends. “Friends” who may not remember the special moments shared or even that one 8-minute long drunken heart-to-heart you had outside the bar smoking a cigarette a year ago.
Spend your time wisely; build on your passion that will grow into a success, and work on yourself so you’re constantly evolving in all areas of your life. It’s as easy as swapping out going to the same bar three weekends in a row or spending a tremendous amount on overpriced sangria and tapas that you won’t miss the next morning.
3. Life happens to you, not for you.
For quite some time I lived by the motto, “embrace the undetermined,” and frankly I still do. Because life happens to you, not for you.
There will be moments that you’ll feel defeated and think life is testing you with every season. And I understand, because I always sense something is lurking around the corner ready to hand me a curveball. But it’s all perspective in how you want to meet your hardships. What I end up learning is more about myself and my capabilities with problem-solving when I am in a position to be scrappy. I grow tougher skin when faced with adversity, and it allows me to overlook the small issues that most would see the discomfort in.
Accept whatever may come your way, and embrace the undetermined.
4. Give Yourself Some Grace
We are known to be our worst critics, but you got to give yourself some grace. After college, you all go your separate ways, and what ends up being your progress report is how you compare yourself with everyone else. You often check on their social media just to admire their wins, but what you must remember is that those are only the highlight reels. Your path is not parallel to theirs, especially if you graduated side by side with the same degree.
When I reflect, I realize that there were times that I held myself back from my full potential by comparing myself to the next person. But you got to trust in your process, put in the effort, and the outcome will always result in your hard work. Don’t get bogged down by your setbacks, just find a balance between elevating your standards and not being hard on yourself.
5. Don’t Settle
Don’t settle with your career path, your relationships, or yourself. You will go through many phases in all those areas, and you will continue to figure out what you do and do not want.
Let’s start with expanding your skill sets by navigating through different positions and organizations until your path leads you to what you were called for. This is the time to figure out what you want to do with your career. Because coming into your thirties, most people haven’t figured that out yet. I say get gritty now, and then you can retire early.
Relationships, the ones with others and especially the ones with yourself will be the most valuable. Surround yourself with those who are like-minded. Find others who celebrate your wins but can also challenge you for the better.
Ultimately, find the time to spend with yourself and more often. We freely give our time away to things, events, and others that don’t feed us back. Because when we take the time to devote to ourselves and what brings us joy — we become a little bit more invincible.
