Tomorrow, I turn 22. I can’t believe it. I’ve accomplished so much in the 22 years I’ve been on this earth – graduating high school and college with top honors, getting ready to start a graduate program, becoming a Christian (just to name a few).
And tonight as I was going through a couple of the notes that were on my computer, I came across this one – “19 Things to Stop Doing in Your 20s.” My 20s have barely begun so there is a lot of time to consider these things, but I have deemed them worthy to share.
The original article was written by Brandon Gorrell for the website Thought Catalog. You can find the original here along with more detailed descriptions of each of the things.
Here’s the basic overview:
- Stop placing all the blame on other people for how they interact with you.
- Stop being lazy by being constantly “busy.”
- Stop seeking out distractions.
- Stop trying to get away with work that’s “good enough.”
- Stop allowing yourself to be so comfortable all the time.
- Stop identifying yourself as a cliche and start treating yourself as an individual.
- Stop expecting people to be better than they were in high school – learn how to deal with it instead.
- Stop being stingy.
- Stop treating errands as burdens.
- Stop blaming yourself for being human.
- Stop ignoring the fact that other people have unique perspectives and positions.
- Stop seeking approval so hard.
- Stop considering the same things you’ve always done as the only options there are.
- Stop rejecting the potential to feel pain.
- Stop approaching adverse situations with anger and frustration.
- Stop meeting anger with anger.
- Stop agreeing to things that you know you’ll never actually do.
- Stop ‘buying’ things you know you’ll throw away.
- Stop being afraid.
Sit and contemplate on these things. I know I am. Because there are certainly things that are listed here that I’ve struggled with and continue to struggle with. In some ways it gives me a goal for the next 8 years. 19 things to conquer in my 20s (or at least feel like I’ve conquered).