21. Not personally having a vacation house, but having a kind of run-down cabin or beach house that is shared among your entire extended family.
22. Buying most of your designer goods at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
23. Family data plan.
24. You have a yard sale on your actual yard, and you may go inside when there are no buyers out there.
25. When you have an extra bedroom and call it your ‘office.’
“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino
Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.
