‘Life is a box of chocolates’ Forrest Gump taught us, ‘you never know what you’re going to get’. Well, with the addition of flavour cards that isn’t strictly true; it’d read better as ‘life is like a gift selection box someone else got for you, you never know what you’re going to get’. But growing up is all about learning how to deal with what life throws at you, and knowing that even the shittest chocolates taste better when they’re baked into cakes.

August is my birthday month, and as is somewhat of a blogger tradition, here are 23 things I’ve learned at 23.

it’s fab to have a small group of really close friends who will field your 3am breakdown calls over your dissertation files corrupting

it’s also fab to have a larger pool of friends/acquaintances you can hit up in new cities (and old cities) to show you around the best places

being scared of something new isn’t an inhibiting factor. being scared of something new is a natural reaction and the adrenaline can actually really help

you can never have enough shelving / storage boxes / places to put things

plants make a room feel a little (lot) bit better

being open and transparent and honest is far easier than trying to be an enigma or coy. games are far less appealing the further you get into adulthood.

taking time for yourself is really goddamned important.

also making time for exercise is really goddamned important – even if it’s just going out for a walk to catch pokemon

hard graft gets you everywhere. if you’re putting the effort in, the rewards will come. even if it is more a case of eventually than right the fuck now.

look after your skiN!!!!!!!!!

early nights and quiet nights are just as fun as getting absolutely trashed with friends. sometimes they are the preferable alternative and that’s grand.

you don’t have to like your friends’ friends, but don’t be a dick about not liking your friends’ friends.

friendship breakups are very real and very painful. but at the end of the day you’ll be way better off for having let the person go.

you determine how you react to things. failure isn’t a negative, it’s a step to working out a different way to do it.

yoga is actually really great. it puts you more in tune with your joints, which if you have ridic clicky motion ranges, is quite fab.

regrets aren’t necessarily a bad thing – they can be really motivational

sometimes the best plan is a duvet day, sorbet, sugar, and marathoning old tv shows and that’s fine. it’s still technically coping

avoiding responsibilities becomes a less viable solution the longer you avoid. it’s far better to just get that shit over and done with the minute it raises it’s head.

don’t be afraid to ask for help. some things you just can’t do by yourself and that is fine.

say yes as often as you wish to new opportunities. new opportunities are fab, but sometimes the expense of energy and resources is more than the gains.

second chances should be earned.

donald trump is a prime example of why you should apply for that job regardless of not having experience. and that’s likely the only good that’s going to come out of the american electoral race. fab.

new adventures can start at any age – this weird obsession we have as a society to be top class by the youngest age possible; or that once you’re past 25 that’s it, youth over is stressful and about as truthful as the credentials of most wellness bloggers.

That final burn aside (seriously though, if you want nutritional or diet advice it’s a much better idea to talk to your doctor or hire a certified nutritionist to get you on a plan that is right for your body rather than something that is likely to become very expensive very quickly…) life has a funny way of teaching you lessons. Some of these are sort of a direct contradiction to last years list, but it’s showing how I’m growing and how my ideas are evolving so I’ll take it all as progression.

Let me know if you have any other pearls of wisdom, or if you can relate to any of these?

♥

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