1. Do whatever you can to wield power over your autonomy, whether you find this in the occult, some new age religion, whatever the fuck, if it’s helping you fucking stick with it as a form of meditation
2. You need a constant solitary morning/evening ritual. If you don’t get enough of this and you spend too much time with others and neglect this, you will feel “off”.
3. Dress a little uncomfortably to keep yourself awake, take that time to look like a boss ass bitch in the morning
4. You are growing into yourself and you know what you like and you know what you don’t. Wear the damn jacket and don’t care about being too brash— people in the south just don’t know how to dress themselves
5. You will still have those days, you will have those attacks that seem like they come out of nowhere— get the fuck up, have you eaten? Have you walked around outside? Showered? Stick to your routine and go outside and walk. Your mind will create more productive thoughts and your anxiety will wash away as you’re doing your makeup.
6. You know you have a tendency of falling in too deep too fast, don’t trust someone until you see them walk their talk. Don’t say I love you until after you’ve had your first major fight. Radical radical vulnerability is best saved for your acting class, protect yourself but remain tender.
7. Get off your phone
8. If the relationship is happening too fast, distance yourself, make time for yourself, don’t lose yourself. You are whole as you are. Don’t fall prey to the false sense of comfort. You will feel an uncomfortable sadness if you are around said person for too long. You need to remember you need your own space.
9. Ground turkey, southwest salad and espresso seasoning
10. You’re not done with puberty until you’re like 24. Take better care of yourself, it’s okay to refocus and re center. Your body’s still changing and it’s getting weirder
11. Shit happens, what’re you gonna do, refer to Stoicism
12. Write write write write write write every day, it’s what helped you recover and what helped you manifest the great things you achieved
13. Imposter syndrome is a bitch and anxiety is a slut stop letting them fucking win!!!
14. You’re actually pretty good at teaching your peers philosophy and you make pretty badass scores on those exams because you actually learned to conceptualize shit that mattered to you. The grades kind of matter but in the grand scheme of things, the shit you’ve been learning is applicable to adapting to different modalities of thought in your art
15. It’s okay to take a break from your main artistic medium
16. I know it’s been a year and you think you suck, but pick up your paintbrush and take out your sexual frustration on a canvas and not on the dude you’re gonna regret
17. Stop trying to be the best at everything and stop thinking that a capitalistic notion of success will bring you happiness, how are you going to be authentic with yourself?
18. Your meaning and purpose in life are not monolithic, they are constantly shifting and evolving
19. If you have no meaning, make it your meaning to find a meaning or make it your purpose to overcome your apathy and/or mental chemical imbalances
20. Minimalism in your wardrobe has taken you very far. Quality>quantity
21. Don’t settle
22. You will meet new people every day at the coffee shop, go there when you’re sad. Everyone there is so damn supportive and they’re all going through it
23. Practice vulnerability within reason
24. Once you stop defining people by what they do, you shed a layer of your ego and you stop projecting what you feel like you should be doing with your life
25. Become more honest with your therapist and stop feeling ashamed for having daddy issues. You’re not the problem, it’s a deeply rooted hermeneutical epistemic injustice.
26. Healing isn’t easy, it’s a process, confront your dad
27. Stop hiding
28. Why the fuck did you think you were fat back then, stop that. And do more grocery shopping.
29. There’s a sense of empowerment you finally feel once you embrace every part of yourself and you don’t feel bad for being curvier. (It’s bs how it’s fetishized so much more now but srsly) once you dress a certain way that makes you feel comfortable, it changes your entire day
30. It’s not a race. Life can be like a sledgehammer beating you tf up, but as long as you’re surrounded by people who care and love you, it’s easy to forget about all that shit
31. “I’m falling in style right now, but I’m getting back up, and that’s okay”
32. As long as you’re consistently making progress, that’s all that matters, no matter how slow
33. There are loopholes to everything, find them. Take advantage
