Ella Ceron

My roommate bought our couch with a bottle of Belvedere, I slept on a yoga mat before I managed to get a bed, and I wrote my papers on a busted laptop with an old radiator whistling nearby.

Because sometimes you just need to grab your girls and belt out a few key songs at the top of your lungs.

Think of them when you hear certain love songs, only to freak out because you never realized you were in this deep and how do you get out of this rabbit hole, or are you never going to be able to listen to Drake the same way ever again? (Probably not.)

You can get along with guys, and like the things guys like, but you can like the things girls like, too. This is called being a well-rounded person. And, well, that’s something that’s appealing to just about everyone.

Ultimately, you have to decide how much fear you put into something, and what you’ll do when you finally face those things you’re afraid of.

Reading this post — or really, anything, either on the Internet or in the real world. 60 percent of the world isn’t online, and 26 percent of the world is still illiterate.

When I feel really upset about something body-related, I acknowledge it, say it out loud, realize it sounds ridiculous, and try to get to the bottom of why I’m feeling that way.

Behold, the things you need to get through any day, no matter where it falls on the warm-sundress-cute-park-walk-weather to blistering-sweat-through-your-work-clothes-hell-on-earth continuum.

The fact of the matter is, your singleness has little to do with things being wrong, and everything to do with the fact that maybe — just maybe — being single is right for your life in the right now.

Tramp stamps, hipbones, rib ink — whatever trend you think says something about us, probably really only means one thing: we liked the way it looked when it was placed there.

Target: Come for the $20 bathing suits, stay for the 4-for-1 on Bounty towels!

Because there’s really no shame in reading those cheesy quotes about love or listening to a really sappy love song and thinking to yourself, yeah, that’s actually kinda how it is, and that would be really nice to have in my life.

Think of all the people you’ve ever truly loved, and of all their faults and quirks and imperfections. It’s these things — the louder-than-should-be laughs and the scars that map a body like so many Xs (if treasures were secrets the two of you could share) — that make people compelling.

No, this in no way actually prepares you for what you’re going to go through with your own kids one day.

Casually mentioning, “Oh, that’s my brother,” to any guy who tried to get a little too close in your presence immediately told him where he stood. (And I know that secretly made you a little proud.)

“Hey, avocados were 4 for a dollar at the store today. Bought you 12.”

You can understand why they have the shoes and the special shorts with the butt pad. That all makes sense. But do you really need the head-to-toe regalia? And the helmet? The unitard?!

Those hundreds of miles of coastline mean that playing hooky every once in a while, foregoing store-bought salt spray for real beach hair, and — yes— justifying how you need to buy just one more bathing suit, is all in the name of better health.