#20 Twenty things I wish I knew at 20 years old
With this Dispatch, I’m two-thirds of the way through my experiment to write 30 posts in 30 days.
While thinking about what to write, I kept revisiting the number 20 and accidentally drifted into the realm of reminiscence about being twenty years old.
A lightbulb flashed above my head and I asked myself: what 20 pieces of advice would I give my 20-year-old self?
Here they are:
1) You might have kept your hair longer than Dad did, but you didn’t dodge the balding bullet – sorry. Accept it, buzz it, rock it: you’ll feel better for it.
2) It’s a blessing not a curse that your circle of friends naturally narrows with age – the relationships are strong, mature and fulfilling for a reason.
3) Exercise for longevity not vanity.
4) Build a safety net savings fund for emergencies as soon as possible, the reassurance it provides is liberating.
5) Listen to the dentist and hygienist: floss daily.
6) Take more photos, especially of and with loved ones.
7) Money doesn’t buy happiness but it buys choice.
8) Moderation not deprivation.
9) Garbage in, garbage out: applicable to a range of scenarios from diet to news consumption.
10) Invest in quality where and when you can. Especially with coats and boots.
11) Just because you can function on less than 8/7/6/5 hours sleep doesn’t mean you should.
12) Small but consistent progress over time produces exponentially better results than pressuring yourself to make huge leaps in the short term.
13) Go to therapy, it helps.
14) Find the small, simple things that bring you an exponential amount of joy, note them down in a list and turn to this when you’re feeling low.
15) Often we can’t control what happens to or around us, but we can choose how we react.
16) Hydrate properly.
17) Wear the damn sunscreen, moisturise and look after your skin.
18) Holding onto negative emotions is toxic (see number 13).
19) Choosing our relationship partners can impact so much of our lives: know yourself deeply and intimately before trying to build a life with someone.
20) There’s this thing called Bitcoin on the horizon: invest big and early.
What would be on your list?
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Benjamin Craske
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