28 Things I've Learned Over The Last 26 Years

Before we start, I want to tell you about these photos and how much they mean to me. If you read this month's mag, you know that I take photos of myself every year on my birthday. And this year, here's what I see:

A dress that John bought me for my birthday. A hat I borrowed from his mom. My hair that tells me that my business lets me have fun in life. SLO is a BEAUTIFUL place. I have amazing friends who take photos of me (Summer) and who climb to tops of mountains the hard way to watch the sunset with me on my birthday (Mike & Haley). That I've been treating my body well. That I'm getting better looking with age like I CAN'T GET OVER HOW TRUE THAT IS.  

I love these photos.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

28 Things I've Learned Over The Last 26 Years

I turned 26 on Tuesday and now I all of the sudden feel very wise.

In General:

1. Life lessons come later rather than sooner. As in, this post should be titled "28 Things I Knew But Did Not Actually Apply Until Now" or "28 Things That I Had Never Even Thought About Until This Last Year".

2. Nobody knows what they're doing. We're all faking it.

3. You do not wake up one day & know how to decorate your apartment like an adult. You just buy everything on display at Target and hope for the best.

4. You do not need to ask for so much advice.

5. Lululemon pants are worth it. DANGIT.

6. You can choose your thoughts every day just like you choose your outfits.

7. And you should plan your outfits for the week because it makes life so much easier.

8. Having fun is not the same as being happy. MINDBLOWN.

9. The little things you do every day matter 100 times more than what you do once in a while.

10. Laundry should not be done all at one time once a month.

11. If you time yourself, you can get anything done. If I give myself ten minutes to clean my room, I GET THAT ROOM DONE SO FAST. Ten minutes to shower, to call my grandma, to whip together some Paleo cookies. Seriously. Ten minutes.

12. Some things aren't worth the time to fix/do, and you should just buy new things.

13. Grades never mattered. 

14. You don't have to like things you don't like and you don't have to try them because somebody just found out you don't like it. Every time someone finds out I don't like fish, they're like "Oh you should just try it!" As if they are the first person that suggested that to me? Hmm, no. I'm cool. No fish for me k thanks. I like what I like, I don't like what I don't like and everybody is going to be okay.

Also, I am Beyonce. 

In Friendships:

15. 99% of friendship is showing up. Just be there. Like physically. Get coffee, watch a show together, fly across the country, watch them play music, go to their bonfire, their housewarming party, their birthday dinner. Just show up. 

16. If you can get your friends together once a week on a consistent basis, you have fantastic friends. I have fantastic friends.

17. You either like people more and more the more you hang out with them, or less and less. And you need to pay attention to that.

18. YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY FOR THE WHOLE PARTY. I don't know why no one gets this. Leave when the party is still fun and you will remember it as fun forever. Also, showing up for a little bit is better than not showing up at all. (A la #27.)

19. There's a difference between liking someone as a person, and liking who that person is as your friend's person. i.e. You don't need to like Bob personally, but if Bob makes Susie very happy, you like Bob just fine. Get over it.

In Relationships:

20. Love languages are a real thing and sometimes translation is necessary.

21. Boys and girls are different.

22. Your tone is everything and your timing is the rest.

23. "What's meant to be will always find a way" does not mean "Make it as hard as possible to see if we are truly meant for each other."

24. Relationships are work and they are worth it.

In Career/Business:

25. People are paying much more attention than you think. In a good way.

26. The best way to promote your work is to do good work. And to show it off.

27. Done is better than perfect. A magazine with a typo is better than no magazine at all. 

28. Nobody does anything on their own, it takes a village to raise everybody.

God, I feel smart for 26. 

p.s. Apparently, I really like random lists of lessons I've learned: 26 Inconvenient Truths That You Have To Come To Terms With Because You Are An Adult.

p.p.s. SLO What?'s Back to School issue is in the works and it's amazing and if you haven't read the Birthday issue, go ahead and make that happen like now.