It’s been a bit since my last post. Life has flown by and I now understand what my parents were talking about years ago.

On the eve of my 28^th Birthday, I look back on a year filled with ups, downs and lessons learned.

I wrote a similar post when I was 25, but now, as I am officially heading into my late 20s, I feel I have learned a few more lessons I need to share (because I am sooo much more mature now…)

1. Embrace life. You never know when it will end for you or the ones you love. Take advantage of every opportunity that is placed in your path and learn from it.
2. Surround yourself with positive people. Lately, I have realized just how negative some folks are and quite frankly- it pisses me off. Just because it is raining in your life doesn’t mean you need to bring it into mine and rain on my parade (because my parade is a glorious one with sparkles and fireworks and ends with a yacht send off….)
3. Treat yourself and others with respect. Love yourself and all that comes with who you are. This includes your flaws. Appreciate others and their quirks or differences. We are all weird. We are all looking for someone who can appreciate our own kind of weird.
4. Stop comparing yourself to others. Things may look peachy on the outside but that’s the thing with illusions….you never know what is behind the pizazz until you live it. Live your life the best you can.
5. Appreciate your elders. I lost my grandmother this year and I am heartbroken. Not only because she was an amazing woman, but because she has truly lived through everything I’ve experienced in some shape or form. She had advice I could turn to when I needed it most. Listen to your grandparents/parents, etc. sometimes they actually know what they are talking about.
6. Don’t try to rage. Seriously. Just don’t. Bar crawls are mostly a thing of the past and hangovers truly do last two days if not more. Not. Worth. It.
7. Surround yourself with people that you like. It’s ok if you have been friends since preschool. If you don’t enjoy their company- don’t hang out with them. It’s not that you don’t like them; you may just have different interests besides obsessing over the Backstreet Boys like you did in 7^th grade.
8. Take care of yourself. We hear this all the time but it really is important. Do something that you enjoy doing each week. Whether it is working out, reading a book or sitting in silence for 10 minutes each night. Life can get hectic- where you forget about the most important person in it- you.
9. Try new things. If you always say “later”, “when I’m…” “if someone else does it too”- you will wake up 85 one day and have regrets bigger than your adult diaper. Try new things now, you never know what the future will bring.
10. Life plans can hinder you. In my opinion, it’s good to have an end goal, but it’s also important to realize there are numerous ways to reach your end goal. There will be wrong turns, hiccups and obstacles- but the people you meet and the things you learn along the way are oftentimes what lead you to your happily ever after. And…who knows, perhaps you will change direction halfway because you find a new end goal in life.

There you have it….my profound words of wisdom. Long story short – love yourself and others, don’t judge and live with a purpose.

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