Remembering our mistakes keeps us up at night, but every mistake is a lesson. Now you can cut out the middleman and learn from our mistakes that we made in our 20s!
1. Not getting enough sleep.
“But how can I possibly sleep when there are so many mistakes to be made?” Don’t you worry – you have entire decades to mess up your life!
2. Spending too much time on social media.
He liked a picture of your lunch on Facebook. You scrolled through his Twitter account to see if he was dating anyone else. He retweeted how your day went and you posted a news article on his wall about a topic you both talked about last week. Erm, it’s a nice day outside…
3. Shampooing your hair too much.
You need to start skipping the shampoo every now and then and just use conditioner. Once every couple of weeks, go to bed with just conditioner all over your hair. If you keep shampooing daily, your hair’s going to be flat and dry for your 30th birthday party!
4. Trying to tan.
There are two ways to do this and neither is worth it. UV rays from the beach or the tanning bed can be dangerous, so if your skin doesn’t glow like JLO’s you need to accept it and get a new role model. Fake tan might seem more reasonable, but: orange towels, orange bedding, orange knuckles, long baths, exfoliation, repeat. Spend your time doing something worthwhile, like making a name for yourself at work…
5. Letting your office treat you like an intern when you haven’t interned in years.
You’ve heard it all before: “You’re so lucky to even have a job in this economy!” But if you let your boss keep putting in orders for cups of tea it will soon become normal practice and even more difficult for you to get out of. You’ve paid your dues; you got the job; you get paid a salary to work and not make cups of tea and cart heavy boxes about. Put your foot down – you ain’t no gopher!
6. Drunk texting.
You haven’t even opened your eyes the next morning before you remember what you did. It hits you like a ton of bricks falling on your chest, one after the other. Yep, you left him 32 missed calls! Yep, you attempted to sext him! Yep, you left a voicemail that lasted over 15 minutes. This is a mistake that every girl will make in her 20s.
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7. Being healthy in the day and horrendous during the night.
Have a green tea for breakfast, a salad for lunch, grab a fistful of nuts and hit the gym. Leave the gym, get ready for the party, drink shots while you party all night and end the night in a fast food restaurant at 4am. The former does not absolve you of the latter: your body will be incredibly confused!
8. Extreme diets.
No matter how many lemon juice, cayenne pepper and holy water holistic cleanses you go on, you’ll end up at your normal weight. After ten years of trying every celebrity diet out there, you’ll realise that you’re probably fine as you are, if you just can’t lose those last few pounds, it’s probably because your body needs them to survive. Everybody in their 20s is slimmer than they imagine.
9. Getting a long-term pet with your partner.
You’re pretty sure you two are gonna make it, so it’s time to get down to the dog pound… just for a look. You come home with a fluffy friend, but six months down the line Fuzzy is a child of a broken home.
10. Wasting money on restaurant meals.
When you’ve moved out of your parents’ house, it’s much easier to eat out than to cook for yourself. The first half of your twenties will be spent eating breakfast hungover in the café down the road and ordering in in the evening, which seems economical at the time – you can eat your leftovers for lunch the next day! But it’s not sustainable in the long term.
11. Filling your house with plants.
Granted, collecting succulents isn’t the worst possible vice: having more oxygen in your home and some greenery can really brighten your mental health. However, once you get into a slump and forget to water your new indoor garden, everything will start to brown and you’ll be living in a house of death. Buy in moderation!
12. Spending all your time in a relationship.
Before you settle down and spend all of your 20s with the same guy, have a look around, meet some of the bad guys, the odd guys, the wild guys. You can never appreciate the good guys until you’ve seen it all!
13. Chasing after someone who is just not interested.
It can be difficult for most girls not to get a teeny bit obsessive in this situation. Don’t dedicate your 20s to devising plans and trialling new ways to get this guy’s attention. And if the guy only gives you attention late at night after he’s been on a lad’s night out and couldn’t hook up with anyone else, that’s the type of attention you don’t want.
14. Wasting money on beauty products that you know in your heart you won’t use.
Get yourself a good moisturiser, cleanser and toner: if they work, stick with them. Don’t bother with the latest unicorn horn powder with ‘Formula 2330’ – a moisturiser is a moisturiser.
15. Applying for credit.
As soon as you find out how easy it is to get credit, you are on a downward spiral. Don’t do it: if you can’t afford something, you’re going to have to wait until you can afford it. If you can’t afford it ever, then you can’t afford to pay that credit back. Don’t get involved. Resist temptation.
16. Choosing a nemesis and envying her.
It takes a lot of energy to be jealous, and by the time you’re finally worn out by it, you’ll realise the girl you envy is really the girl you want to be. Swap envy time for self-awareness time, concern yourself with what YOU want to be and not what she’s doing with her life.
17. Letting your opinions of your friends’ boyfriends (or vice versa) ruin your friendship.
Everybody’s been out with an absolute A-hole, and everybody else could see that whilst the poor girl is completely oblivious. Everybody makes their own mistakes, you have to stand back, let it happen and pick up the pieces when this guy does exactly what everybody knew he would do.
18. Hooking up with your friend’s brother.
This is too awkward for everyone involved.
19. Picking the wrong roommates.
Yes, she is great for partying back in college, but when your life gets more complicated and your priorities change, do you really want her walking through your living room at 2am with a one night stand you wouldn’t wipe your feet on?
20. Hoarding $15 H&M trend pieces rather than saving for something expensive and timeless.
A cheap peplum top or pleather leggings are always bound to go out of style, like, tomorrow. Save your cash and buy yourself a designer little black dress that will never go out of style, then waste all your extra money on different accessories to disguise the fact you’re always wearing the same dress!