Life is a learning experience — one that never stops no matter how old we get — and it’s only natural that we’re going to make mistakes along the way. Some lessons are better learned earlier rather than later, and now that I’m in my 30s, I’m glad these missteps are behind me.
- Staying with horrible boyfriends for way too long. I have a wonderful man in my life right now and I think its because I got all of the douchers out of my system when I was younger. I learned a lot from dating those idiots and I’m not sorry I wasted time on them.
- Not getting enough sleep. Remember the days of only getting four hours of sleep and still making it through work the next day? Why cant that still be possible? I’m glad I did it back then because I definitely need my full eight hours these days.
- Making questionable fashion choices. College was a great time to try all sorts of things, including bizarre fashion choices. I’m sure my club wear was borderline “lady of the night” and I’m shocked I still have knees after walking in some of those stripper heels.
- Hardcore partying. So. Many. Parties. I can’t hang like that anymore, so it’s a good thing I partied hard back in the day. My hardest partying now is having a glass of wine while scrolling down my Pinterest feed. Whoa, wild thing — calm it down.
- Spending too much money. Back when having a couple hundred dollars in my bank account seemed like a fortune, I also thought it was an awesome idea to spend that fortune as soon as I got it. Luckily, a few life lessons knocked me on the head and I no longer wipe out my bank account for shoes — at least not very often.
- Bouncing between jobs. At the time, it didn’t seem to matter if I went from job to job and burned bridges in between. Luckily. somewhere along the way, I discovered this was actually not a best practice and I should probably rethink my ‘turn and burn’ approach to employment.
- Cheating. Yes, I’ve cheated and I’ll admit to it. I was young, unhappy, and felt like nothing could touch me. Well, it could and it did and I was an a-hole for cheating and hurting another person. Even though it turned out OK for me in the end, I’ll never, ever, ever do it again.
- Overcrowded apartment living. Oh, college roommates. While it was awesome to live with my best friends and always have extra closets to choose from, the drama was in high supply and the dishes were always dirty. I savor my freedom and alone time these days, even if I miss living with the girls.
- Drinking too much. How on earth did we drink all night and survive the next day? I’m now a lightweight and need an 8-10 hour nap to recover from just a few glasses of wine. I learned back in those days how to recover from a wicked hangover, though, so I can’t fault myself too much for drinking my weight in vodka.
- Perfecting the art of the hookup buddy. I think we all have a period of time where we want to not care about men and so we convince ourselves we don’t. It doesn’t last long, but it teaches us to think like a guy and can save us from heartache. Although I don’t really subscribe to this activity anymore, it was still valuable to know how to detach feelings from sex.
