Things I wish I'd known when I was younger

As I enter into the last few years of my 20’s (scary thought), I often find myself thinking about the things I’ve learnt throughout my first 10 years of adulthood. In an ideal world, I would have learnt some of these things a lot earlier in life (aka before plucking my brows to within an each of their lives) but I guess that’s how it goes – you live, you learn and all that, but if I could go back and tell my younger self some things to help along the way, it would be these.

First and foremost, you’re doing better than you think you are.

It might not seem like it, but you’re really not the only person in the world who feels a bit like they’re stumbling around in the dark trying not to bump into things. It’s completely fine to not really know what you want to do with your life and what’s meant for you will (hopefully) not pass you by.

Secondly, eyebrows can really make or break a person.

Please don’t pluck them all off – you will regret it and it will take years (and gallons of castor oil) for them to recover.

Things ALWAYS seem better in the morning.

You may feel like you have a million things to get done and no time to do them all, but sometimes the best thing you can do is just have a good old sleep. Don’t get me wrong – there will be times when you will need to have a full-on drama queen, temper tantrum meltdown but most of the time you’ll just need to go to bed.

Everyone is a genius in their own right.

Some people will know how to perform a heart transplant, some will know how to get red wine stains out of a white carpet, some will know how to perfectly blend the colours in an eyeshadow palette, and some will be able to single-handedly entertain a room full of four-year-olds. Whatever it is you excel at is completely and utterly enough.

Don’t take life too seriously.

You’ll probably find yourself in a few awkward and uncomfortable situations throughout your life but just remember that you can make it through pretty much any awkward situation if you just picture how much you and your friends will laugh about it when you tell them.

Leave while you’re having fun.

It’s taken me a long time to realise you’ll have much fonder memories (and a lot less hangovers) if you leave a party (remember those?) whilst you’re still having fun and not be so worried about missing out on something that you end up waiting for an uber in the freezing cold at 3am, desperately wishing you were tucked up in bed with a cup of tea.

Peer pressure will never be cool.

If you want to do something, then you should do it and if you don’t want to do something, then don’t. Gut feelings are real – trust them.

Make sure you’re actually having as much fun as your social media makes it seem.

Post as many pictures on Instagram as you like but make sure your priority is actually having fun, rather than making it look as if you are. Don’t live your life through a camera, you end up missing some of the good bits.

Motivational quotes really can work wonders.

When you’re feeling a bit low, there are few better ways to cheer yourself up than making a big cup of tea, grabbing some biscuits, and scrolling through Pinterest until your heart’s content. It may sound silly, but I genuinely feel ready to take on the world after a Pinterest session and a packet of malted milks.

Don’t let the bad things that have happened to you make you bitter.

There are still so any good things that are going to happen to you and so many good people you are going to meet – keep your heart open to them and always be as kind as you can, as brave as you can, as generous as you can and as honest as you can.

Thanks so much for reading, hopefully the list won’t be quite so long in another 10 years (wishful thinking, I know).

Katie x