1-Respect the parents, but still be you.
Yes they understand what it was like at your age, but they never grew up in today’s world. They love you and if they really are for you they will support your decisions to chop all of your hair off or to go cliff diving on a Thursday night with your friends after dark. Live a life that lets others in to how cool your parents are and teach them to understand that no news is good news when it comes to hearing from you. If your parents did their jobs in the 18 years they had you, they should have full faith of the individual you are living in society.
2- See the world before you blink.
Old age and wild adventures do not always go hand in hand. Travel NOW because in the blink of an eye your chances will have dwindled down! We almost always pity people of the older generation who are traveling because we realize that they probably forgot to see the world when they were our age. Thinking they are so cute we vow to never be in their position but it’s rare that people stop to GO places and do more than work their life away. Imagine yourself in 20 years Googling your next vacation, idolizing your days off and working your tail off to make enough money for you AND your family to go somewhere exotic. Newsflash. You are young, chances are you are beautiful with a body that you are proud of and you have no commitments. Traveling and seeing the world is like flossing, we always say we will do it but we never get around to it. In the end when our gums are falling off or our life has come to a close it WAS the greatest thing we could have done with our time and for ourselves…but did we ever actually do it?
3-It’s okay to be broke. Really, it is.
That money in your bank account can be drained, it really can. You can invest when you’re older, wiser, and have a significant other who knows what they are doing. As a matter of fact by spending you are investing in memories that will define your character, challenge your beliefs, and grow you in ways that sitting at home never could. Go eat that exotic taco and peach margarita on a Tuesday night or surprise your friend in Texas for a long weekend, you will NOT regret it later in life. You can always make more money, but those opportunities don’t come free and your credit card bills will understand (within reason.)
4-The person you love deserves grace.
They will never be who they promised to be for you love them enough to realize that we’re all human and it’s okay. Just as you will make a million and a half mistakes when it comes to loving someone right, it takes misinterpretations, getting things wrong, and painful things said to see a person for who they really are. Each hard time provokes something deeper between you two but that sure as hell doesn’t act as an excuse to stay with someone who treats you in an unfair way. Seek out redemption between you and your partner while assuming the best about them every single time. You will grow internally in discovering that falling in love in your twenties is a grand adventure and it can happen if you allow patience to intervene time and time again.
5-Be jobless until you find the right one.
For the love of all things passion-related do not cheat yourself. Let me be the fatherly voice in your ear telling you to not settle for a job that doesn’t stir all the good up inside you. If you spend a few more months working that side job and eating the food from your parent’s pantry in order to find the PERFECT FIT job, do it. We are past the generation of people who think that a job that was made for you doesn’t exist-it does and you will find it if you put in the effort amidst the search. And shake the idea that quantity is better than quality. I would rather work five jobs I was saturated in and crazy about than have spent ten years at the same old boring job.
6-Please, fuel your body with green foods now.
Habits define us and also have the power to haunt us later in life. Healthy eating is something that should be valued regardless if your body is receptive to the amount of crap you are feeding it now or not. Start small and redefine what you choose to eat in this season of life-continue with determination and the commitment to wholeness. I am definitely in favor of those late night chips and queso but you won’t find me condoning it on an every night basis. Try acai and granola instead! What you start now, you’ll finish later. Our bodies promise us what we feed them now will reflect in our health problems, energy levels, LIFE SPAN, and happiness later in life. Don’t doubt me here, folks.
7-Never do it for the Instagram.
You won’t be all in, the experience won’t be as sweet in your long-term memory, and your worth was never determined in the amount of likes you have anyways. Those around you are getting your half best self as you try to create a moment into something much more extravagant than just stopping to appreciate how beautiful the mundane and simple can be. Strive to conquer your every day. Make it your goal that at your funeral people will come from near and far to celebrate not only that you lived but also HOW you lived. Stories shared will be new to the masses because you weren’t always caught up in the lie of needing to share for validation.
8-Everyone has creativity in them.
Only the person who thinks they are not creative will fail to make an existence worthy of appeal. Being creative is a direct outlet to freedom of the mind, digging deep into the art that is your own soul. It’s vital to challenge yourself in this way, to be courageous in trying something that may be new or foreign and to never be satisfied with monotonous routine. If your life was a white canvas, how would you paint it? I would make mine a work of art.
9-Have a faith in God that makes those examining your life love Him more too.
He’s worthy of your time. God will position the next steps and fix the heartbreak if you trust fully. Give Him all your worries and make it as elementary as that. Just because you are older does not mean that the God you knew in Sunday school has left you. Jesus loves me this I know, walk with that as your anthem. Let how you interact with your Creator and how you choose to let that infiltrate throughout your life speak to those around you. How you love comes from a place of knowing how much you ARE loved and that will change everything.
PS. That’s me praying in our church with my whole heart for God’s will.
