25 Things You Should Hear if You’re 25 or Younger

When I turned 18 and moved out of my mom’s house, I thought I knew everything there was to know about life. Oh, I was so grown up and mature and no one could tell me anything. Because of family drama during adolescence,  I had to grow up faster than normal kids should- think Fiona from Shameless but on a much smaller scale.

Last week, I turned 26 and I’ve come to realize that I really don’t know shit. I graduated from college three years ago and still have no clue what I’m doing. I may not know a lot but this is what I have to tell your if you’re feeling lost in your early- mid twenties.

Stacie, Lauren, me, and Suz last Friday celebrating my 26th birthday.

25. No one actually knows what they want to do with their lives. I’ve spent so much time worrying about a career and my future when a vast majority of people are in a line of work they don’t want to keep doing forever. I’m currently making an effort to try new things to find out exactly what my niche is.

24. Save your fucking money. It’s so hard, I know. Start an emergency fund. Hide cash from yourself if you know you’ll find it later. It will feel better to have it when you need it than to scramble to come up with it when something bad happens. I’m not good at practicing what I preach here…

23. Side hustles are so important. Open an Etsy shop. Find a serving job a couple nights a week. Figure out what it takes to be a fitness instructor. Uber needs drivers my friends and I haven’t harassed yet. Whatever. Everyone could supplement their income somehow.

22. Don’t get a pet if you aren’t going to love that little creature with your heart and soul. There are so many degenerate fucks out there who abandon their pets. If you know me at all, you know I’m a huge animal advocate. Be nice to them or I’ll kill you.

21. Sometimes all you need is to drink some wine, eat junk, and cry with your best friend. It’s the most therapeutic technique I’ve discovered.

20. Never let anyone make you feel like you’re stupid. Unless you actually are just stupid.

19. Eat whatever the fuck you want and go to the gym when you feel like it. Life is too short to be googling calories. But…

18. Eating healthy is a form of self-respect. Do you want to eat fast food every damn day and feel like shit? How about having mid-life heath issues? No? Cool, eat some vegetables and love yourself. Balance.

17.If you don’t like your life, change it. Move. Meditate. Shit doesn’t change unless you do.

16. If something scares you it’s probably a good thing to try. Comfort zones are the killer of all dreams.

15. Don’t move in with your best friends. It usually causes problems in a friendship. Corinne and Christina I love you but we should have known better. Your roommate, however, can become your best friend.

14. Stop being so fucking hard on yourself.

13. Don’t wash your hair every day.

12. Stop spending your money on going out or new outfits for something silly. Spend it on traveling and concert tickets. You can borrow a dress for your cousin’s wedding but you can’t borrow memories from a road trip to a music festival.

11. Don’t put Red Bulls in the same compartment of your bag as your lap top. Bad things can happen.

10. ALWAYS break in your shoes before an event or else you could be struggling to navigate around Manhattan on the coldest New Years in history with ripped open feet. And then sleep with homeless people in Port Authority. Long story.

9. Don’t ever stay in a relationship because it’s comfortable or because you don’t want to be alone. It it’s not working, it’s not working and you deserve better.

8. Strategize your grocery shopping. Look at sale ads before you shop. Stop making fun of your mom for clipping coupons and start doing it your damn self- just don’t be that asshole digging through their purse at checkout. It’s incredibly easy to save some money on food if you aren’t lazy.

7. Stop holding on to anger. It’s poisonous. Forgive people for your own sake.

6. Stop giving a fuck what people think of you. “People are never really thinking what you think they’re thinking.” – Lauren Bailey

5. Don’t drink and drive for the love of God.

4. Keep your circle small. The more “friends” you hang around or go out with, the more dramatic your life can get. When you find good friends who love and support you, never let them go.

3. Cut off toxic people and don’t feel bad about it, even if it’s your best friend. Surround yourself with people who bring positivity into your life and inspire you to grow.

2. Use your health insurance while you have it. Seriously. You can stay on your parents’ health insurance until you’re 26 and after that, you’re on your own. Your health is important. Don’t put things off because you’re scared to go or because you don’t feel like it. I guarantee you will wish you got that cavity filled when you’re in pain and have to pay out of pocket. Don’t take it for granted.

1. If you need help, ask for it. This is probably the hardest thing for me. I never want to admit that I need help. I’ve always wanted to do everything by myself. I’ve had to be fiercely independent for as long as I can remember, but I’ve come to learn that EVERYONE needs help sometimes. It’s ok to ask.

The good part about making mistakes is learning from them.

Better Late Than Never: My (Almost) Free Trip to Florida

Sometime last month in the blur of chaos and boredom this summer, I landed at BWI after a little getaway to the Florida Keys. My friend Maggie (AKA the most interesting chick on the planet,) settled in Key Largo a few months ago after traveling around the world and back. I had a Southwest credit that was expiring soon (thanks, Paige,) so I figured that was the perfect destination for a mini-vacay. My trip had to be cut short because my best friend Gatsby, (@Gatsby_barkedwhat) got really sick and needed to be snuggled and nursed back to health by his mama. A ginormous thanks goes out to Mo and Suz, the greatest roomies ever, for getting him to the vet before I came home and reassuring me 1,000,000 times that he was in good hands.

Maggie picked me up from the Fort Lauderdale airport on a Sunday in the early afternoon and after a quick trip to Chipotle, we were on our way south to the Keys. I met one of her roommates who is a professional mermaid– I swear I can’t make this shit up, and a cuddly German Shepherd named Jager before changing into a bikini and heading to Playa Largo Resort to lounge around for a couple hours.

We laid our things down on the lounge chairs and went into the ocean. It was such a hot day and the ocean felt even hotter. After hanging out in the water for a few minutes, a nurse shark as big as me swarm up to the group. Surprisingly, no one freaked out but the shark swam away after a kid tried to chase it. Children ruin everything.

When the heat became too overwhelming, we walked over the the restaurant to grab some dragonfruit mojitos. They were the prettiest magenta color, perfect for the sunny atmosphere of South Florida. More of Maggie’s friends joined us and we watched the sunset before heading to Sharkey’s, the local watering hole, for food and more drinks. We spent the night telling stories, drinking, and laughing before turning in for the night at a surprisingly decent time.

Monday, Maggie’s friends were supposed to take us out diving, but I guess I brought the black cloud that follows me around and it stormed all morning. We ended up going to her friend Gavin’s place to see his birds. I know this isn’t correct but for entertainment purposes, let’s just say his lives at an exotic bird sanctuary. Usually birds freak me tf out but I seriously was like a kid in a candy store. There were rescue cockatoos, parrots, and peacocks everywhere, some in cages, some free-roaming. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy, overcast day.

We grabbed some lunch at this super cheap but super awesome sushi and thai place. Thankfully, the sun came out shortly after Maggie and I then went to another beach club in Islamorada.

Later that night, I went to the MMA gym where Maggie started secretly training. Holyshitballs I got to kick and punch so many things. It was fantastic. Probably going to write an entire article about how amazing it was. If I got to punch and kick things all the time I’d probably be a much more zen person. A group of us went to dinner later that night and played drinking games at Maggie’s friend Lindsay’s house.

Tuesday, we were supposed to play with dolphins at Lindsay’s work, (she’s a dolphin trainer at a dolphin therapy center,) then head to Key West for a wild night, but I had to leave because my baby Gatsby’s insides were exploding. I switched my flight to come home 26 hours early. It was an hour and 20 minute drive back to the airport and I needed to beat rush hour, so I essentially spent the entire day at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International worried to death that my fur baby was going to die before I got home. I tend to be very dramatic. I finally started watching House of Cards while I was stuck in airport hell and I lucked out and had wifi on the plane.

The coolest thing about Key Largo is that everyone has their own interesting story. All the locals are either master divers, mermaids, dolphin trainers, or fishermen. No one wears make up, no one works normal hours, and none of it appears to be real life. There’s a mango tree in Maggie’s backyard for Christ’s sake. They live on an island so anything goes. It’s the kind of place I could move to and just write and sell crafts for a living while doing yoga (or MMA,) and life would just be simple and wonderful.

So many more adventures to post about in the next week, so buckle up.

MK

 

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