Turning 24 & Reflecting on this last year!

Hey there my lovelies! I am turning Twenty Four on Sunday and wanted to do a blog post on some of the things I’ve learned this last year! It can be easy sometimes to look back on the life you’ve lived and pick out the key moments that changed you and shaped you into the person you are. This year I choose to start living a very simple life, loving the small things, understanding what I need and what I don’t need. I reflected a lot and understood people better then I have before. Here are somethings I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) and some of the things that have shaped me as a human! Enjoy!

“Do not fear growing older, it is a privilege denied to many”

I think so often, especially as young adults, we are pressured from the start. All the way through elementary school, you are asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. At graduation, we are often forced to pick a path and stick to it. More often then not, the path you have choose, has also been chosen for you. By this I mean your parents, teachers, friends, have all given you their opinions on how your life should be lived. When you choose what you want to do in life, it is usually something that would make your parents happy, your friends jealous, your teachers proud. Which is by no means a bad thing, if your also choosing that path for yourself. One of the first lessons I’ve learned this year is #1 It’s okay to not know. Everyone has different talents, things they are good at, things that make them happy, things that make them proud of themselves. As a society we are often told to go for the job that makes more money not the job that makes us happy. Other times you get to a point in your life where you can’t figure out what to do next, and this is completely okay. This year I struggled a lot with the job I wanted to peruse and the kind of life I wanted to live. There were more then one time where I looked around and honestly said “I just don’t know”. It felt freeing to be able to let go of the expectations and not know where your life was gonna take you, but be willing to enjoy the ride. Which brings me to my second lesson I’ve learned this year and that is #2 Life is not short, life is long. I am tired of hearing, life is short, do all the things you want to do now before it’s to late. And yes sometimes this idea is right, but the concept is wrong. Life is not short, life is very long, and the decisions you make will inevitably change the way you are as a person, and the way you function in society. When you really think about how long life is, it becomes this journey, and you no longer feel rushed. 

“Minimalism is not about having less, it’s about making room for more of what matters”

This last year I really wanted to try and live my life with the least amount of things possible. Only buying the things I needed, and being careful about the things that I was purchasing. #3 Buying more and spending more, won’t make you any happier or less happy with person you are. At the end of the day, it’s all just stuff, material things bought from the expectation that you have to look or be a certain way. I wanted to throw that whole standard out the window this year, and I did. I wanted to look around at the space I was living in, and be happy with the items I had. Really understand why I was buying what I was buying and whether it was just going give me instant gratification or something that would always bring me joy. Lesson #4 Being a minimalist really gives you a sense of inner peace. The one thing I wasn’t expecting from this minimalist journey was the peace I felt during it. There was a constant chaos of always having to clean up, tidy up, do laundry, organize your clothes cause they don’t fit in the drawers etc. During this minimalist journey, I did laundry once a week, folded all my clothes and put them away with lots of room in the closet to spare. I didn’t go to bed feeling like the house was a mess or I didn’t get to a chore. Having less things means there are less chores to do and when there are less chores you have more time. Which ends up being nothing short of fantastic. 

” I wanted to say thank you to the rare few individuals in my life who have listened without judgement, spoken without prejudice, helped me without entitlement, understood without pretension and loved me without conditions” 

I’ve learned a lot about friendship this year, probably more than any other year. Friends have always been something in my life that I was timid about. I never felt like I had a ton of close friends, and the close friends I did have weren’t treating me in a respectable manner. It was year of reflecting for sure, I really sat down and thought about the way I treated people and how I wanted to be treated in-turn. It took time, but eventually I became aware of the friends that were there for the right reasons and the ones that weren’t. Lesson #5 Ending friendships doesn’t mean you don’t like that person anymore it simply means you two aren’t on the same path anymore and that’s okay. Once I started to become more self aware I noticed how many people I had as friends but never knew. I started to develop connections with people who cared about the same things I did and understood who I was just as I understood who they were. I also have you guys an amazing group of followers, who I will always look at as friends. Lesson #6 Friends don’t have to be someone that you see on a regular basis, they can simple be a hand that reaches out when you’re in need. 

“Make it simple, but make it significant” 

This was a quote I stood by a lot this year, I would think of it often and reflect on it. When you are young you have these dreams of becoming all these great things in life. I think when maturity hits you, you start to tailor those dreams to reality. We still however as a society live lavish lives and want the best for ourselves. I got to a point this year, where I was really happy with the simple life I was living. Just because my life was simple tho, it doesn’t mean the choices I was making weren’t significant. Lesson #7 Find the things that make you excited and learn everything you possibly can about it. I took on a lot of simple projects that to me were significant. I was proactive in not creating extra waste, being Eco and environmentally friendly in every aspect, using reusable straws, grocery bags, cups and so on. I became self aware of how much waste one human an create and was shocked. I was also making sure the products I was buying were cruelty free and vegan. Cutting back on all the animals products that were being used in my household and again being self aware of how much animal derived products are in everything, things you wouldn’t even think about. I spent time searching for ethically made clothes and created a lifestyle where the clothes I had on weren’t made in sweatshops, for pennies on the dollar. I created projects for myself and put my all into them, and the reward was having a life full of things I believed in.

This last year has been by far my favorite, and I don’t say that because everything went perfectly or because I accomplished so much. I say that because this year has taught me more then most years. I manged to weed out a lot of nonsense and find a peaceful simple life I am proud of. I’ve found friends, love, causes I stand behind, I’ve developed habits that were healthy and good for me. And I have this amazing platform that I can share all the things I love, so thank you!