Hello!!
Today isn’t just any normal Sunday, it’s my birthday! Yes I am still five inside and demand that all attention is on me for my birthday haha nah I’m just kidding, but today I turn 25. Ooh officially half way to 50 and all that, and I guess turning like a quarter of a century has me feel all reflective on life. I feel like I have written 3463 posts about ‘things I’ve learnt as an adult‘ ‘things I’ve learnt since birth‘ blah blah and I was planning on doing a blog post on 25 things that have really almost shaped me (that’s a weird phrase) into who I am today. Sorry this post is going to probably be a little soppy so if you are of a nervous disposition might be best to look away now.
Anyway, I was lying in bed as you do, and I had a brainwave. So much so, I reached over for my phone and wrote down my idea, which was ‘ things I’ve learnt before I was 25 – video – childhood videos.’ Yes so informative, but I knew what I meant. Instead of just blogging about this, why not make a video? I had a carrier bag of home videos from the 90’s sitting in the second bedroom so why not do something with them? After all I am sure this is why my Dad recorded pretty much every minute of every birthday party we had in the years of 1993 and 1996. Obviously two years where camcorder hire was quite good value.
Anyway, this is the video if you fancy a watch. I’m actually really happy with it. It’s mainly something for myself (me, me, me as always) and for my family to watch really. But tbh it’s the first video in months that I’ve really enjoyed making. It’s taken me about two weeks from start to finish, but I am so proud of it. I cry every time I watch it ( I don’t know if my period is due or something) and I just thought it might be nice to show you a more personal side to me. I always moan that my YouTube is never going anywhere but I don’t do anything different to anyone else. And why would you really want another make up haul when there’s loads of better ones in the first place? I do feel like my creativity has been sparked a little so that’s good, but god maybe if this goes down like a lead balloon we may be back to square one haha.
Now if you don’t fancy watching the video, then you know obviously that’s cool, so here is like the blog element which is what I was planning to do all along. So here we have 25 things that I have learnt before my 25th birthday….
1. You’ll Never Feel Old/Grown up – You will constantly feel like a child in an adult’s body trying to look for a more grown up ‘adult’ for help.
2. Don’t Compare Your Behind The Scenes With Someone Else’s Highlight Reel- Instagram, I’m looking at you pal. Stop making me think that everyone else is happy and on holiday, whilst I’m at home under a blanket. Everyone has bad days, we just don’t really share them. Don’t forget that not all is what it usually seems on social media.
3. The Little Things In Life Are The Big Things- You can’t expect every day to be like The Oscars, and the little things in life actually tend to be the big things. Fresh sheets, someone holding a door for you, fresh flowers, your fave tv show coming back for a new season, etc… We tend to have few big moments in life, but instead life is made up of loads of amazing little moments. See the joy in those.
4. Success Is How You Define It: Success to you could be successfully remembering pants in the morning, or it could be winning ‘Best New Artist ‘ at The Grammy’s. But success is personal to you. I used to think that my success didn’t measure up because someone else had done this or that. I then realised that I have nothing to do with them, and success can be whatever you want it to be.
5. No One Is Perfect: I spent the majority of my teenage years being glued to celebrity magazine such as Heat, where I’d flick though all the perfect pictures and feel shit that my thighs touched together and I had cellulite on my bum. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that usually the girl in the picture doesn’t even look like the girl in the picture. So much is edited these days, and no one is 100% perfect. We could all look like a Kardashian if we had millions to spend on make up artists and hair stylists but we don’t. Don’t sweat it.
6. Do Whatever Makes You Happy: Happiness is your number one priority aways. Whether it’s your job, or a relationship or whatever. You need to be happy. My parents have always told me that it doesn’t matter what I do in life as long as I’m happy. Life can be short yes, but it’s also long, and there’s no point spending every day miserable.
7. When One Door Closes Another One Usually Opens: I used to get so moody whenever I got rejected from stuff. The funny thing is that usually things work out, you never know what’s around the corner. I find that one door may close, maybe even two doors, but one will open at one point. I also like that quote that says ‘just because it isn’t happening right now, doesn’t mean it ever will.’
8. Not Everyone Will Like You And That’s Okay : Ooh this was a tough one to learn. Even up until the last year, I’ve been a people pleaser, well I still am. But I wanted everyone to like me, but sometimes people won’t. I know that I don’t like everyone so why do I expect everyone to like me? It’s okay if someone doesn’t like you, it’s not personal.
9. Be Kind To Yourself, You’re Doing The Best You Can: I’ve spent a very long time being horrible to myself. I still am some days, but I’m getting better. You should be your own BFF not your enemy.
10. It’s Okay To Make Mistakes: You don’t always have to be right. You don’t always have to succeed. Sometimes you need to make mistakes to learn from them. Like maybe don’t kill someone or something, but you get what I mean.
11. Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone May Lead To Incredible Things: I’m very much a play it safe kinda girl. So when I was offered the chance to go on Trek America last year, I’ll be honest with you, I was shitting it. Ten days in America with ten strangers. Hmmm no thanks. I felt sick every time I thought about it, but honestly? Those ten days are up there in my favourite days ever, you know alongside seeing Busted reform, getting engaged that kinda thing. I was so happy I was brave, because I had the best time. I now always think that it’s so important to get out of your comfort zone now and then. You may have a great time, or a rubbish time but you’ll never know if you don’t try.
12. Don’t Mix Your Drinks: Aged 17 (yes I did underage drink naughty) I learnt a very valuable life lesson. You do not mix rose wine on a night out with vodka. You stick to one drink, or you will be sick. Very very sick.
13. Friends Will Come And Go: Even though you may have exchanged best friend necklaces in the playground at primary school, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be BFF’s for life. Sad but true. People change and I firmly believe that sometimes people are only meant to be in your life for a certain amount of time. Accept it and move on.
14. No One Has Their Shit Together: You may think that everyone has their life in order, but I can guarantee you that most people probably don’t. We’re all just winging it.
15. Stop Caring About What Other People Think: Does someone’s opinion really matter if they don’t know you? I used to let people who had no significance in my life upset me. Now I’m like ‘why would I let them do that?’ If they don’t know you personally, don’t take it personally.
16. Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy: It’s so easy to compare ourselves and as a blogger I do it time and time again. Everyone is different and everyone is amazing in their own way. Don’t concern yourself with what other people are doing and focus on you. Sometimes you need to get tunnel vision as it will make you feel so much better.
17. Concealer Is Not Lipstick: (talking to 16/17 year old Corrie) Concealer is for covering spots and dark circles, not for lipstick. You look like you have frost bite on your lips.
18. There Is Nothing Greater Than An Afternoon Nap : As an adult you spend about 95% of your life feeling tired. So when you have the chance for an afternoon nap, boy do you take it. Pass me a blanket.
19. Dogs are amazing: Little secret for you, I never used to be that keen on dogs. I know right? Then I started to get obsessed with puppies and then we got a dog and now I am a crazy dog lady. I’m that person in the street who will smile manically at your dog. The thing is, is that Frank just cracks me up on a daily basis. He’s so much more than just a pet to me, he’s a part of us, our life and I don’t know what I’d do without him.
20. Everything Happens For A Reason: A bit of a corny one, but saying this to myself has made me feel so much better on so many occasions. I remember when I’d just failed my second driving test and I was sitting in the car with my driving instructor crying and she said ‘it was obviously not your time to pass right now. Everything happens for a reason.’ And it made me think that maybe she was right. Even bad stuff I think happens for a reason, and I don’t want to get all spiritual or anything like that but it is something I firmly believe in. I mean it helps me feel a little more positive so surely that just helps.
21. Family Is Everything: Spend time with your family whenever you can. Usually they are the only people who will have your back 100%. Embrace the cringe family reunions and just enjoy being with them.
22. Stop Worrying About What You Can’t Control: I still do this now, but I don’t think I’m as bad as what I used to be. I went through a phase of not being able to sleep because I was worried that North Korea were going to launch nuclear missiles on the rest of the world. Genuinely kept me up at night. I then realised that me lying in my bed worrying wasn’t going to change anything. Nothing at all. Henry keeps telling me about this circle he learnt about at work; it’s got three parts; concern, influence and control. So you think of what’s worrying you and you say can I influence this? if the answer is no, don’t let it bother you cause what’s the point. If you can’t influence or control something then don’t worry about it. There’s nothing you can physically do. If things happen, they happen but I always say to myself stop wasting time worrying.
23. Treat People How You’d Like To Be Treated: Sometimes I will fight the struggle of how do I treat people? Like how they treat me or how I’d like to be treated? I usually try to go with the latter because sometimes it’s better to be kind. I just think it’s good karma.
24. Spend Time With Your Grandparents As They Won’t Always Be Around: I think when you’re growing up you don’t really understand that everyone won’t be around for ever. You can lose someone very quickly and suddenly when you’re not expecting it, and that can be a shock. Always try to make time to go see your grandparents, they will appreciate you spending the time with them and you will be so glad that you did. Talk to them and find out about them, I lost my Nan in 2010 and I still miss her every day, she was a huge part of our lives growing up and it makes me sad that she isn’t around now. She used to always crack me up with the stuff she’d say, like how she hated it whenever I wore yellow nail polish and would exclaim ‘you’re wearing that bloody nail polish again!’ Spend time with anyone you love, because once they’re gone, you can’t go back.
25. Anything Is Possible: Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen! You can do anything that you put your mind to, work hard and remember nothing worth having is easy. But you make anything happen, make your dreams a reality.
So there we have 25 things that I have learnt before I was 25, these are all things that I feel have influenced big parts of my life and have developed me into who I am today.
I am now off to celebrate the rest of my birthday celebrations 🙂 (GIVE ME ALL OF THE CAKE)
What’s the biggest life lesson you’ve learnt so far?
P.S Photo Outfit Details :
Dress: Motel
Shoes: New Look
Balloons: Amazon
