Happy birthday to me! I’m celebrating my 19th birthday today in El Salvador. I’m here for a Compassion Sponsor trip and I am so excited to meet my sponsored child, Nuria, and see first-hand the work Compassion is doing! Our itinerary is pretty full so I’ll most likely be a bit MIA online but I still wanted to write a post ahead of time for today and stay tuned for posts about my experience in El Salvador in the coming weeks!
19 years, in the grand scheme of life, isn’t a very long time but I’ve had enough time to learn a little bit about life so in honor of my birthday I’ve decided to share (in no particular order) 19 things I’ve learned in 19 years of living.
- If you have money, you need a budget
- Wear sunscreen. You’ll either tan or you won’t but either way, it’s better than a sunburn now and skin cancer later.
- My mom was usually right
- I need Jesus
- Sometimes self-care means bubble baths and chocolate and sometimes it means eating your vegetables and cleaning your room.
- Colorado tap water is the best but enough ice makes almost any water drinkable.
- A few genuine friendships are better than many shallow ones.
- Don’t let what you think of as “just your personality” limit you. Introverts need community and extroverts can benefit from spending time alone.
- The attitude you choose makes a huge difference in any situation
- If you can’t articulate the argument of someone you disagree with, you don’t completely understand why you believe what you believe*
- Surround yourself with people who will respect your values and encourage you*
- But also don’t put yourself in a bubble. Make sure you have people in your life who look and think differently than you do.*
- You’re not supposed to feel stressed all the time. If you are always stressed out, take a break, go for a hike, breathe, then see what changes you can make so your stress is lighter.
- It’s actually way easier to find time to read than you think, keep a book in your purse or download an e-reader app on your phone (If you need a place to get started a lot of classics are free to download to your Kindle or the kindle app!) and whenever you have a few minutes and would normally open up social media now you can open a book.
- Stressful things are always worse at 11pm. Go to bed, you’ll be better able to figure everything out in the morning.
- Don’t try to dress/look/act like everyone else figure out your style and own it.
- Phone calls are essential to adult life. You don’t have to like them just learn how to get through them and communicate without sounding like you’re in pain.
- On a similar note, being the first one to reach out/initiate a friendship can be scary but it’s so worth it.
- Be kind. Life is hard enough without people tearing each other down so strive to be the person who builds people up.
*10-12 are courtesy of my bff who is amazing and way smarter than I am.
So there you have it! 19 things I’ve learned/am in the process of learning. What are some life lessons you’ve learned recently? Share them in the comments!
~Maizy
Unless I let you know otherwise, my posts aren’t sponsored by any of the companies whose products I mention. I won’t accept sponsorships from companies whose products I don’t truly think are really great. However, links marked with an * are affiliate links. Should you click on the links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you, I’ll go add to my growing stash of tea, or yarn, or pay the fines on that library book that I couldn’t put down for a month.
4 Comments
This is the best blog ever! & Happy birthday! These tips are so true!
July 27, 2018 at 2:22 pmThanks so much girly!
July 27, 2018 at 8:08 pmYes! So spoiled by Colorado tap water! I am the worst when we travel because I miss it 😉 and YESSS the stress thing.
July 27, 2018 at 4:42 pmYes!! I get so dehydrated when I travel before I start forcing myself to drink water
July 27, 2018 at 8:07 pm