happy (early?) birthday!! š Idk what advice to give because i feel like the 20-somethings now are more emotionally aware than the 20-somethings from even as recent as a decade ago, but tune into your body, give yourself grace, and listen to othersā stories without feeling pressured to model your life after someone elseās. & if you donāt know what you want your life to look like yet thatās okay! ā¤ļø
At 21 I was in my senior year of college and engaged to be married within the year after graduation. In the southern religious environment we were in this wasnāt abnormal, but in retrospect that was soooo young to get married and I donāt think I would have so quickly if I hadnāt been so desperate to get out of a problematic family situation that involved some financial abuse. Despite changing A LOT over the past decade+ my partner and I are still together, and I look back at 21 as a time when I most followed the social script expected of me and coasted on that for a while, until it all started to fall apart (in an ultimately good if devastating way) when I became a mom at 24.Ā
tl;dr: my 21 was tame and mellow and happy but i had no idea who i was or what i could be and now i do have a stronger sense of that at 32 and that feels better
Jun 11, 2024
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i love you so much & i'm so honored to have witnessed your journey over the years <3
capyboppy i love you too & ty for being my friend for so long!! šā¤ļø
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I turned 21 in february 2020, so, ya know. My world changed quick.
But truly I just remember trying various things, trying to define and undefine myself. Feeling what it felt like to stick to my guns, then readjust them. I was in the middle of what would be a 2.5 year relationship. I didn't kid myself with picturing a big future anymore than what was sweet, which was wonderful. I was living with a partner for the first time and felt like I knew what to do, like I was experienced enough for all the problems which faced me. but really I was just experienced enough to start so many things.
I was constantly bouncing between total pride and complete faliure. Playing house in a house I was actually renting with friends. Experimenting with what grocery shopping for myself meant to my life, redifining how I was going to live my days in the future.
The best thing I did in my 21st year of life was not be too mean to myself for not committing, and just committing to new things. I would go dance in the park, go on walks, edit music. All things I wish I did on the regular but regardless, by trying new things, it made it so much easier to pick them up, because I had a frame of reference for the world.
I loved being 20, as depressed as I was. That specific creativity is gone. But now I am 25 and know how to weild my own magic. The depth I have always felt within my soul has farther definition. Its like I put on glasses in a 7th dimention. Don't underestimate the beautiful growth ahead. Yes you are an adult, equipped hopefully to start so many new things. But keep up that internal work, and the years will be bountiful towards true inner peace.
And soo many more new tools to better learn how to tackle issues while still feeling like yourself.
u got this. stay true to urself but be flexibl with redifining who that is.
x
Jun 12, 2024
i was 21 in 2018 - which i feel like was a great year overall.
my boyfriend and i had just started dating, so we spent that whole summer falling in love - he worked at a bar and i would go see him every night and we would hang out there after everyone left until sunrise. those are some of my best memories!
i had bright pink/bleached hair and was in a really confident place in my life - i felt good with my personal style, my body image, my mental health. i was working a barista job that i really enjoyed, and living with my roommates (now best friends!) in the best apartment ever.
i was in the 2nd/3rd year of my bachelorās and really enjoying my studies and creative projects, got involved with my student climate justice protests, and just really enjoyed the social life of being in university.
looking back today, what i miss most about being 21 is how much i knew myself. i lost a lot of that confidence over the years and i often look back to that time as a marker of where i would like to get back. i was just better at having fun - and i think thatās exactly was 21 is for.
take risks! trust your intuition! have FUN!
Jun 11, 2024
šØ
Iām about to turn 30 and idk if my 21 year old self would approve of where Iām atābut my 6 year old self sure as hell would!! I think a lot of life is finding your way back to Little You.
Being 21 is so so hard, and in college youāre first starting to see that you canāt judge your progress based on other people. Even though thatās how you were taught to judge yourself up until this point. The things you want now probably wonāt matter to you in a few years, and for me that would have sounded terrifying at 21. But that doesnāt mean the things you want now arenāt important.
You can think of it in terms of tattoos. If you get a tattoo at 16 itās not because you know it will represent you always and foreverāitās to commemorate a moment, a feeling of boldness you wanted to wear proudly. And down the line you donāt look at it with regret, but a softness for that younger part of you. Feel your feelings fully in this moment! Be bold with what you care about! Every age is special.
Practical advice:
Try to listen to your body and not your head. Do I actually like how I feel spending time with this person? Am I going through the motions of this hobby because I think it will service something else? Does xyz come naturally to me, or does it feel forced? No action needed. This exercise isnāt about flipping your life upside down, just take notice of how your body feels in certain situations. Start to notice when youāre in fight or flight versus happy and free. Find the ease and follow it
Jan 25, 2025
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bc itās what I originally wanted when I first went to college at 17 but I was scared to make writing my job and got a B.S. in Nutrition instead lol
Now the goal is an eventual PhD in Victorian Literature but Iām just happy to have made it through this part at 32!
Stacked is everything I read in my English coursesābarely pictured are the 5 stuffed accordion folders of other reading materials under my chair haha
May 16, 2024
šæ
the only place i win the social interaction
Aug 21, 2024
š
conflusional. delonfident, even
Oct 1, 2024