Brianna Wiest

Nobody reflects on their lives and concludes with “yes, this is exactly how I thought it would go.”

The cliché is true: it’s not about the years you’ve had in life, but the life you’ve had in your years.

We’re looking for relationships as though they’re something you order.

Neither of you have the capacity to entertain petty dramas, so you don’t lose your connection to preventable, daily frustrations.

There exists a very particular breed of human in the world, one that merges the qualities of near apathetic lethargy and a manic desire to achieve.

1. Things that seem completely “normal” to you can be very stressful for us.

You won’t know when a girl is guarded, not initially at least. “Guarded” won’t be the word that comes to mind. You’ll think she’s independent and confident. Driven and seemingly content.

I could not tell you exactly how far into the Marin Headlands I was when I realized that my maps app couldn’t get me back. I just knew it was far.

You’ve lost relationships.

Hate yourself for still caring about the person you aren’t supposed to care about anymore. Shame yourself until you’re completely suppressing everything you feel.

What would you stand for if you knew that nobody would judge you?

But we avoid feeling anything because we have more or less been taught that our feelings have lives of their own. That they’ll carry on forever if we give them even a moment of our awareness.

Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share…”

The love you really want is your own.

“That’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.”

If you want to let go of something, build something new. If you don’t understand, ask. If you don’t like something, say so. If you want to change, start small. If you want something, ask for it. If you love someone, tell them. If you want to attract something, become it. If you enjoy something, let yourself feel it.

1. You don’t take your 20s seriously in an effort to ‘make the most’ of them. Despite the overwhelmingly popular notion that your 20s should be a throwaway period, statistically and biologically, they are the single most defining decade of your life.

We aren’t used to being happy.