I celebrated my 22nd birthday nearly two weeks ago. How did that happen?!
I’m often amazed by how quickly time passes. Nostalgia is stronger now than it ever has been, especially when I see freshmen on campus or hear an old Taylor Swift song. I still feel 18—how am I a
Nostalgia may be real, but that doesn’t mean I’m not in my best season of life so far (I definitely am). The first 21 years of my life taught me a lot. My 21st year was the best one yet, full of concerts, food, and adventure—and I am the most excited I’ve ever been going into year 22. So as a farewell to my 21st year, and to welcome in year 22, I put together a list of 22 things I’ve learned up to this point in my life. Many of these lessons were learned the hard way, but I wouldn’t change that even if I could.
So, without further ado, these are the things that make me feel 22!
1. Your dreams change a lot. In my life, I have wanted to be a famous musician, an actress, a magazine editor, and a flight attendant, and now none of those things are really what I want to do.
2. Taylor Swift understands your love life. She’s gone through a few relationships and has had quite a few problems with them along the way, so the chances of one of her songs being about something I’m going through are very high.
3. Books are almost always better than movies. Not just if the movie is based on a book. Books, in general, are just better than movies.
4. Technology will always fail you in some way. I think it’s best to not rely on it. Phones die. Computers crash. Apple Maps will never take you where you actually want to go. Social Media makes us sad. These are facts. Let’s go back to flip phones.
5. It’s good to care about what is in your food and try to make everything yourself, but you’re too young to be able to afford all the good healthy stuff. You can’t even afford grapes, honey.
6. Not everyone has the same love language as you, and it can be frustrating. Learning what your friends’ love languages are will help you understand them. Take the test. Tell your friends to take the test.
7. It’s important to speak up as soon as possible when you have a problem. The more the problem builds in your head, the bigger the blowup will be. Talk it out. It builds character.
8. Boys are great, but it’s crucial to have girls to share life with. Girls understand other girls in the deepest and most disgusting ways. Boys don’t, can’t, and never will. Don’t tell a boy about all of your exciting moments if you’re not also telling your best girl friend. (Lessons on guarding your heart to come, I’m sure.)
9. People who don’t fight for you don’t need to be fought for. You deserve to get back just as much effort as you put into a relationship, friends.
10. Don’t let the fear of failure/embarrassment/rejection keep you from living. You’re going to fail, get embarrassed, and get rejected in life—and those are the best learning moments you’ll ever have. Learn to love and embrace them.
11. Money spent on a concert ticket is never money wasted.
12. But money spent on Starbucks is almost always money wasted.
13. Life is best lived outside of your comfort zone. No, it’s not easy. It’s really hard. My prayer for year 22 is to find joy in leaving my comfort zone for the Lord!
14. Leave the country. Travel. The. World. Have you heard I studied abroad?
15. Open the blinds. My most valuable lesson from freshman year of college was realizing how much happier you’ll be if you let the sun in.
16. Learn to love the rain. The sun brightens our lives, but we need the rain to grow. And it’s much more fun to play in the rain than you think.
17. Learn more about who God is, not what He can do for you. He is so, so good. And He is so worth knowing.
18. You don’t have the power to save people or to mess up their salvation. We may plant seeds, but God makes everything grow.
19. Always say yes to Jesus camp. Cru, Young Life, church camp . . . go go go!
20. Sleep is important, but it’s important we don’t sleep too much. In my last two weeks at Harlaxton, I found myself going to bed every night at 2 a.m. and getting to British Studies at 8:30 a.m. the next day, just because I knew I’d never
21. We have to take care of the planet. We only get one. Stop putting straws in Starbucks strawless lids. Start bringing reusable bags to the grocery store to cut down on all those plastic bags!
22. We were made to love and be loved. I’ve criticized myself over the years for loving ‘too much’, but I don’t think that’s really possible. God loves us with a love that is so big it is literally incomprehensible. I can only hope to love others with even a fraction of that love!
Thank you for the birthday wishes and for an incredible 21st year! Here’s to 22–may you be full of concerts, heavy on fun times, and light on sleep.
