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.

1. If you have money, you need a budget
2. Wear sunscreen. You’ll either tan or you won’t but either way, it’s better than a sunburn now and skin cancer later.
3. My mom was usually right
4. I need Jesus
5. Sometimes self-care means bubble baths and chocolate and sometimes it means eating your vegetables and cleaning your room.
6. Colorado tap water is the best but enough ice makes almost any water drinkable.
7. A few genuine friendships are better than many shallow ones.
8. Don’t let what you think of as “just your personality” limit you. Introverts need community and extroverts can benefit from spending time alone.
9. The attitude you choose makes a huge difference in any situation
10. If you can’t articulate the argument of someone you disagree with, you don’t completely understand why you believe what you believe*
11. Surround yourself with people who will respect your values and encourage you*
12. 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.*
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. Stressful things are always worse at 11pm. Go to bed, you’ll be better able to figure everything out in the morning.
16. Don’t try to dress/look/act like everyone else figure out your style and own it.
17. 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.
18. On a similar note, being the first one to reach out/initiate a friendship can be scary but it’s so worth it.
19. 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.