What else is new???
Other than Always Bring The Water Bottle and Carry Two Pairs of Sunglasses, One Rosier Than The Other, here are some more thought-through revelations from an 18-21-year-old.
1. Obsessive love is terrible and exhausting.
It is not sustainable, and it is not fulfilling. Healthy love requires humanization, imperfections, and all. It requires knowing when to own up to faults and when to let go. Sometimes, we sacrifice our short-term happiness for the peace of others. Love is reciprocated; unrequited is only desire. Also, predatory people will come across as overly familiar. DO NOT LET THEM!!!!!!! But many people are sweet and compassionate, they love people, and have people who love them: it shines through them.
2. I am an artist, and it terrifies me.
If anything, I came to college to straighten myself out and get away from it. Creativity and self-expression still wormed themselves into my experience. To my core, I cannot escape the life it will bring. I have not gone a day without writing, singing, or creating something that may never see the light of day past my bedroom window. It will be worth it to work a practical job to provide for myself and pursue my passion in my personal life. I would rather set up as much freedom as possible than try to confine any dream or goal to what others have decided will result in success. All in its own time. Other people’s ideas of success, failure, and worth. Art is not the product made and finished.
3. I am a homebody and do not care about YOUR plans. I want to go home!!!!!!
Setting boundaries strengthens trust in a relationship. People pleasing is manipulative. Solitude is sometimes the best gift I can give myself after draining my emotionally-available social battery.
4. It is better to be alone than to abandon myself.
If they don’t get it, they don’t need to. I like what I like and it doesn’t matter in the long run. If I’m feeling off, a haircut, new clothes, and nails done = instant cure. My concerns are valid. I have everything I need. I allow myself the full capacity to live authentically as myself. I will not be everything to everyone. I must be everything to myself. A million other people may feel the same way. We are doing our best with what we know. A friend is always a phone call away from me. Also sometimes it’s best to avoid the crowd on social media.
5. A rushed LIFE is a life not even half-lived. Not living for the present is not living at all.
The past was a dream; wake up and keep moving forward.
6. I am always somewhere.
Moving around and visiting friends and family, every corner of the world is already established as Somewhere. No matter how small, it already has its unique charm. Look for what makes a place special. Even if I’m not traveling, figuring out how to leave my comfort zone usually satiates the flighty feeling I get if I’ve been in one place for too long. The moments that don’t feel important matter the most.
7. Everything ends.
It’s what makes something so special. What makes time precious? I will never be here at this desk in this apartment for very long, and then never again. I will never have the same friends in the same vicinity again.