5 Things You're Never Told About Growing Up

Sure, hindsight is a great thing. Unfortunately we cannot see into the future or change the past (wouldn’t that be mighty!). At the tender age of 23 I often find myself wondering would my life be different if I had made different choices or taken a different path. Now don’t get me wrong, I feel like life is all mapped out for us but quite often I wish there was a study guide for growing up.

I would consider myself a very insecure and anxious person. Although I have seen many places and done things most 23 year old girls have not, I still feel like I have a long way to go in order to truly accept myself. I have travelled, worked more jobs than I can remember, fallen in love, had my heart broken, graduated college and lived away from home.

I am pretty happy with my life right now. However, it was not an easy road to get to. I learned a lot of tough lessons and experienced a lot of pain to get to this place in my life, which is still far from perfect. But hey, who’s perfect these days!? Anyway, here are the things I wish I knew about growing up:

1. Your mother is probably right

If you are lucky (or unlucky in some cases) to have a mother you will know all about the ten million, zillion statements she comes out with per day. “Don’t forget your coat”, “Would you ever clean that room of yours it’s like a pig sty” – These are among the few orders that we tend to ignore daily. However when it comes to the more serious stuff, chances are your mother has been through the same pain, struggle and heartbreak that you have and like most mothers, she just wants to spare you the heartache. Honestly though, who needs therapy when you have your mother?

2. Money isn’t everything

Now this is NOT an open invitation to throw your college books in the fire and become a full time bum. But in all honesty, money comes and goes. OK, you may be up to your eyes in college loans and barely making enough in your part time job to go out at the weekends but at the end of the day money won’t make you happy. Sure hasn’t every study confirmed it? To be honest, I used to stress about financial problems all the time but remember there is ALWAYS someone worse off than you. Be grateful for the things you have in life that money can’t buy for example family and friends. Without sounding too morbid, you never know when that loved one right next to you will leave this world so remember to tell them just how special they are to you.

3. You will cry, A LOT

Maybe this just relates to me, but I doubt it. Every young woman has her emotional days. I happen to have heaps of them. Being over sensitive is a pain in the ass. It just takes someone to look at me and BAM! Waterworks. I have said it again and again- social media is a dangerous thing. Sure don’t we all look happy on Instagram? This however, is not the case for most people. Try to remember that we only see what someone wants us to see on the outside. Nobody knows what happens behind closed doors and, believe me when I say EVERYONE has bad days. So eat that tub of ice cream or polish of that bottle of wine because you deserve it!

4. DO NOT compromise your goals and ambitions for anyone

Rule number one: don’t compromise your dreams for someone you fancy. Of course it’s easier said than done but a tough lesson I learned is that at the end of the day you have to be selfish when it comes to your own life. Because let’s face it, if you don’t look out for yourself, who will? After I graduated college I took a year out and that ended up backfiring on me (ill spare you the details). However, after telling myself 2016 was going to be MY year (cliché I know) I have already accomplished much more over three months than I had in one year. I applied and got accepted to a Masters of Education and I travelled Europe by myself. I’m pretty proud of this for a girl who would barely walk to the shop by herself initially. Anyway, point is if you want something go get it because moping around the house feeling sorry for yourself will get you nowhere. Trust me.

5. Life doesn’t follow a structured plan

I remember seeing my older cousin meet her current boyfriend in first year of college. From then on I thought that as soon as you got to college you met the man you were going to marry and live happily ever after. Hahahahahaha! Good one. I was the girl that was always obsessed with getting a boyfriend. Obsessed with living a life that I thought was by the book. I will be happy when I have a new car. I will be happy when I get married. I will be happy when I get a better job. I will be happy when I lose weight. What if instead we choose to be happy -- right now? Life might not always go the way you want it to, I have often been pissed when my life decided to go off course but we should learn to just let it go and embrace the journey.