“The world is a trashcan on fire,” TikToker @Madeline_Pendleton exclaims with the utmost conviction, “So I get why growing up seems like it would be the worst. But it’s not all bad!”
With her cherry red hair, killer fashion sense, and frustratingly flawless skin, it’s easy to take one look at Madeline and assume she is just another trendy (albeit bizarrely wise) sixteen year old girl. It was only when I found her series, “Unsolicited Advice from Your Weird Aunt”, that I had to reevaluate my assumption. My jaw was left hanging when I found out that she is not only the founder and owner of one of my favorite online stores, Shop Tunnel Vision, but she is almost 35 years old! In a society that is obsessed with romanticizing adolescence and convinces women they are “expired” by the time they turn 21, teen viewers are comforted by Madeline– an adult who rebels from age-related norms and is always unapologetically herself. By offering sage growing up guidance to worried young adults, she acts as a role model for over 450 thousand followers. Without further ado, here are my top pieces of wisdom from everyone’s favorite weird TikTok aunt: Madeline Pendleton.
- “I think it’s an act of rebellion to be happy in your thirties and forties and fifties and on. It’s a privilege to make it through another year, because life is hard, man! Every single year we get older, that’s a gift and a sign of strength that we made it.”
- “In the epic plane crash of life, always put your own oxygen mask on first.”
- “Pursue experiences, not comfort. While it’s definitely nice to be comfortable and have some element of consistency and stability in your life, you’ll definitely remember experiences more. Try to make them good experiences.”
- “The older you get, the more entrenched in your life you get, making it harder and harder every year to move. So don’t put off moving to a different place. Plan on doing it sooner rather than later if it’s important to you.”
- “I think when you’re a teenager, you associate adulthood with selling out. But what I came to learn as I got older, is that being obsessed with my own youth was more selling out, because all these companies profit from making us feel [bad] about ourselves as we get older.”
- “You get to make all the rules in your adult relationships. Live your life for yourself. [Your family] already had a life to live theirs.”
- “You should never care more about a job than your boss does. You will go positively batty trying to improve things, and your boss will be like, ‘nothing’s broken, why did you spend all this time doing this?’”
- “The pursuit of moments of joy… is the most important thing you can be aiming for. Being great, or being exceptional, or making a mark on the world, or however you want to say it…that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re happy or fulfilled.”
- “Don’t be surprised if you lose a lot of friendships through your twenties. I’m pretty sure our brains aren’t even finished developing until we’re twenty five, so it’s super common that you and your friends in this time period are all going to move in different directions. It doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with you, it’s just unfortunately a pretty normal part of getting older. Just put in extra work to hold onto the friendships that truly matter to you.”
- “It’s better to be at the bottom rung at the ladder you want to climb, than at the top of one you don’t want to be on. Don’t pursue an abstract idea of success, over genuine interests in your life.”
- “Don’t let passive aggressive people pretend like they’re not being aggressive. It’s right there in the name!”
- “People profit off of selling products that make you look young forever, like that’s the goal. So, the more you hate the idea of yourself as a mature adult, the more you’re gonna buy these products that try to make the world convinced you’re not an adult yet.”
- “Never tell your friends how to spend their money. Even if it stresses you out. Just remember: their money, their business.”
- “No one has ever figured out the meaning of life in all of human existence. And if they have, they didn’t share it with the rest of us, so how important could it have even been?”
- “[In a relationship,] Cheating is actually a violation of consent. Your partner has stripped you of agency. [But,] It has nothing to do with you. You’re not deficient, or lacking in some way. They’re just being selfish. I would not stick around and wait for them to change.”
- “Life is finding five dollars in your pocket and using it to get slurpees at midnight with your best friend, and then crying because you got an unexpected bill in the mail that you can’t afford to pay. It’s not gonna be good all of the time. The trick is to just make sure you’re surrounding yourself with people you care about.”
♡