This morning I woke up and somehow I had turned 25.

I am not sure I should be allowed to turn 25 because honestly there are some days that I try to brush my teeth with my lipgloss tube. #HelloJetLag

I had so many assumptions growing up that 25 was this magical number in which I would find myself with a husband, home and children. For my Northern friends… that’s a normal southern dream! I’m not entirely crazy. Yet, here I am with none of those things and I’m surprisingly okay with it. Let’s not mention the calls at 2am to my mom in which I sob that my ovaries are surely shriveling up.

So what better way to ring in my 25th year than to list in no particular order the 25 things I’ve learned.

1. It’s okay to stand up for yourself. It’s not mean or unladylike.
2. Washing a pen with your uniform dresses will not turn out great.
3. Surround yourself with people you actually like
4. Don’t be afraid to end relationships (romantic or otherwise) that don’t enrich your life.
5. Love is a choice more than a feeling.
6. Parents are God’s gift to mankind.
7. Take the time to do things that make you smile no matter how silly it might be.
8. Folding a fitted sheet will never make sense.
9. It’s okay to cry in your to Ed Sheeran’s song, “Photograph” whenever you get homesick.
10. Eating right makes you feel better even though eating pizza 4 times a week sounds oh so tempting.
11. Hurt people hurt people.
12. Don’t let other people’s opinions shape your identity.
13. Just because your normal is different doesn’t make it inferior. #IWasBornInTheWrongCentury
14. Keep your promises. If you say you’ll be there at 2:30… be there at 2:30.
15. Seeing a show in London is better than buying expensive new shoes.
16. You don’t have to talk to fill the silence… it’s okay to just be.
17. Audrey Hepburn is and always will be EVERYTHING.
18. Ditch the small talk and have some good soul conversations.
19. Keep learning even if that only looks like reading as many books as you can get your hands on.
20. Burning a candle and taking a bubble bath fixes just about everything.
21. Don’t try to have a  logical conversation before drinking coffee.
22. Say to yourself 5 things that you’re thankful for when you get stressed and upset.
23. Do NOT get bangs if you have curly hair. STOP THAT!
24. It’s okay to not be okay… it will get better.
25. You are stronger than you know, beautiful in your own way, loved and cherished by our Heavenly Father, known and accepted by the most wonderful family and you have a pretty awesome boyfriend. Go kill this year Christena.

XOXO,

Me