Although it pains me to no longer be in my twenties (seriously, how did that even happen?!), I think that everyone is correct when they say their thirties are even better. When I look back on my twenties, I had a lot of fun. There were also a lot of hard times as well. In the decade of your twenties you learn so much about yourself and about life in general. There are so many things that I learned (some the hard way) and I thought I would share some of my most valuable lessons with you.
1. Let go of toxic people
I think my number one lesson I’ve learned is to let go of people who no longer fill your life with joy. This is such a tough thing to do and I’ve had to do it multiple times. If you have a friend who you dread hanging out with, it’s probably time to let them go. This also applies to family. Sometimes sharing blood isn’t enough reason to keep up a toxic relationship. Having to cut out a family member can be harder than cutting out a friend but when it comes down to it, if they are making you miserable then you need to make a change. Which actually leads me to my next lesson…
2. Worry about your own happiness
If you are like me, a people pleaser, you probably don’t like to make anyone unhappy. It’s nice to think of others but sometimes you spend so much time thinking of others you forget to think about yourself. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that you can only help yourself. No one is going to take care of you but you. So you need to make sure that you are doing the things you want to do with your life. If you have to say “no” to something in order to maintain your happiness, it has to be done. I spent a lot of time in my twenties worrying about letting other people down but the thing is, I was likely the only one that worried about it. My friends probably didn’t care as much but as I did when I turned something down.
3. Work hard to play hard
The one thing they don’t tell you about becoming an adult it how hard you will have to work. Once school is over and you have entered the real world, you are on your own and it can be pretty scary. Everything comes with a price and in order to make ends meet, you will probably have to work extremely hard and make sacrifices. When my boyfriend and I decided to move in together in our early 20’s, we had to work hard to make ends meet so that we could afford to live on our own. Then we had to work hard at our jobs so we could make enough money to afford necessities and also some little luxuries now and then. When we decided to buy a house, we had to make so many sacrifices to make it happen. If you can work hard and put everything into what you do, something good will come out of it. It may feel like you will never get to where you want to be but you just have to sit back and enjoy the journey.
4. Not everyone will like you
This goes along well with number 2 and took me a while to finally accept. Sometimes people just won’t like you. You can’t please everyone and honestly, you don’t want to. Agreeing with everyone just to avoid having someone dislike you can really wear you down and make you feel awful for not being yourself. The people who really want to be in your life will love you regardless of whether or not you agree with everything they say. As long as you are being your genuine self, you will attract the people who belong in your life. Everyone is different and that’s what makes life great, so don’t waste time stressing over someone who doesn’t want to be your friend.
5. Let go of the things not meant for you
There will come times in life when you really want something and then you don’t get it. It’s such a hard lesson to learn and I feel like I’m still working on this one. I get easily disappointed when plans get changed and I’m trying hard to remember that sometimes things don’t work out because they weren’t meant to. The only thing you can control is your reaction and how you move forward. Something better is bound to come along and it will make you forget all about what you originally thought you wanted.
Being in your twenties is a lot of fun but it’s also the years I feel you learn the most about yourself. What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your twenties?
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