27 Lessons I’ve Learned In 27 Years

Since I am approaching my 28th birthday here in two weeks, I figured, what better time to share 27 lessons I’ve learned in 27 years of living.

Disclaimer: This list is actually one I scribbled down on paper last year on my 27th birthday, having coffee by myself, while visiting a city I now call home.

As I revisit this list today, I realize I’m constantly learning these lessons, and many more, every single day I’m alive.

1. Sometimes laughter truly is the best (and only) medicine.

2. Life is too short to give too many shits about things that don’t matter.

3. You’ll never move forward if you’re always looking back.

4. The water tastes better when the glass is half full.

5. You cannot change anyone except for yourself.

6. You cannot save anyone except for yourself.

7. Love is a choice. It’s an action verb.

8. The idea of something is always far more glamorous than the actual. But the actual can be far more rewarding.

9. Fear is a trap, a blinding one at that.

10. Family means forever. Preserve and cherish these bonds at all cost.

11. The present moment is the only moment worth fighting for.

12. Finding peace in solitude is a necessity before finding peace in togetherness.

13. Our only saving grace is grace itself.

14. Each new day is another opportunity to step up to the plate, or give in to defeat. The choice is all yours.

15. Age is only a number.

16. We make time for the things that truly matter to us. And we fill up our schedules to avoid the rest.

17. If we’re not open to greatness, we will never experience it.

18. The same goes for love.

19. And faith and forgiveness.

20. Being a human is messy and complicated. We live in a “brutiful” world.

21. Cling to what’s real. Forget the facade.

22. We are only truly limited by the things we tell ourselves we can’t do.

23. Mind over matter works, most often.

24. Beauty is whatever you make it; however you see it.

25. Never hold on too tightly.

26. Let go as you grow, or you will sink right along with whatever you’re dragging down with you.

27. The best things in life don’t cost money. They’re priceless moments of raw emotion and shared connection that we have to dig deep below the surface to find.

One more to grow on….

With my birthday rapidly approaching, I figured, why not add one more to grow on. One that is perhaps the greatest lesson of all.

28. Pain is part of every single human experience. There’s no growth without it.

As for me, I’m working on being better at trusting the struggle.

P.S. Here are 25 Things I was still learning at 25. And am still learning now.