11 Worst Things You Can Tell Yourself In Your 20s

1. This is all that there is. Life after this is bound to be a soulless 9-5, family obligations, expectations imposed by other people, kids I wasn’t ready for, you know, what everyone else does. It’s just not true! I used to say this about people who think that their college years are the best of their life. If that’s how you really feel, you’re doing this whole “life” thing wrong.

2. Well, I’m not as successful as this friend or that friend, so I’ve failed. This can be tough when it seems like everybody else is making more money, has a great relationship or landed their dream job. But really, your comparisons are based on a hierarchy of successfulness that you’ve built in your own mind. Learn to deconstruct it. You’ll find that outside of those delusional rankings, all that really matters is how much someone is enjoying their life.

3. It’s fine, I’m young, it’s time to live– as an excuse to be reckless and damaging to yourself. It’s time to embrace your life, not destroy it. Learn to differentiate the two.

4. Someone else may not come along so I should hold on to this person that I’m not so sure about. This decade is not the end-all-be-all of romantic prospects, guys. Don’t sell yourself short because you think there’s a romantic expiration date the day you hit 30.

5. I can’t. Probably applicable to any age, but there’s something particular about the 20s that evokes a sense of uncertainty about oneself, a messiness about life in general. The only surefire way to make sure you can’t do something is to believe it.

6. I don’t want so-and-so to see my body. It is time for a little tough love: enough. Enough of this crap about being self-conscious about your body. People have bigger hearts than we tend to give them credit for. Be you and give people a chance to fall in love with that. We’re in the interim right now, the time to let go of our adolescent insecurities and grow into loving our beautiful, adult, human bodies.

7. Well, these years don’t matter that much anyway. They do, in fact. They are your foundation years, the time in your life where you are capable of making decisions that will affect the rest of your life. Don’t underestimate them in an effort to make them seem less intimidating.

8. Everybody else is doing that, so it must be right.

9.I’m not as successful as this person or that person was at this point in their lives so I must not be on the right track. Here’s the thing, people: there is no “right” or “wrong” track. There is not only one way to get where you want to go. There are back roads and detours and a thousand little roads that you may have to be the first to pave through. Let it be exciting, not debilitating.

10. Ugh, I can’t believe so-and-so [insert frowned upon convention] –they’re too young! As much as you can’t follow the crowd, if it’s not what you’re compelled to do, you also mustn’t crucify other people for their choices. Some people may be ready to get married at 20, who knows. What’s right for them and wrong for you doesn’t make them lesser. Beyond that, enforcing your ideas of right and wrong will ultimately hurt you in the end when you don’t live up to your own expectations because you choose something different than what you thought to be the ideal.

11. I’ll be happy once I have this thing or that thing. I have said this so many times, but I have to say it again, because I think it’s one of the most important realizations I’ve ever had: life does not begin once you have everything you ever wanted. You will spend your entire life waiting if you don’t get out of that mindset. (Adapted by Jessy Pearl)

Source: www.thoughtcatalogue.com