I turned 30 on March 27th and I wanted to share what I have learned throughout my 20s. I’ve learned a lot about myself within the last ten years and I almost don’t even recognize who I was when I was twenty. I’m excited to leave my 20s behind and embark on this new chapter in my thirties, cue “thirty, flirty & thriving.”
1. Know Your Worth & Stand Up For Yourself
My 20s were mostly filled with internships and non-stop working. I know I’m not alone when I say that working for someone else isn’t always ideal. Throughout my junior and senior year of college, I ended up doing a total of six internships, (which I do not recommend doing.)
Being an intern was exciting, I was eager to learn and wanted to gain as much experience as possible. I wanted to be fully prepared for what was to come after college, my first full-time job. Throughout my internships, I encountered some incredible bosses and some not so incredible bosses, which I am also grateful for. Throughout my first full-time job, I wish I had the confidence to speak up for myself and know my worth when it came to my salary. It can be a bit scary and uncomfortable addressing these topics with your manager, but it absolutely should be discussed! I wish I could go back to my 22 year old self and tell myself I am more than enough!
2. Take Care Of Your Health
This might sound like a no brainer but taking care of your health is so important. There is no job in this world that is worth disregarding your health over. Repeat after me: there is no job in this world that is worth disregarding your health over!
People assume if you’re in your 20s you’re young and healthy and that may be true for a lot of us, but I have also had some minor health scares that I avoided and waited until the last minute for a doctor to treat me. Take advantage of your insurance and make sure you’re getting your annual physical exam, eye exam and dental cleaning.
3. Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy
When I was 20, I permanently deleted my Facebook account, it was the only form of social media I had in 2014 and I’ve never looked back since. What you see on social media isn’t reality. People only tend to post the exciting fun things going on in their lives and it has a tendency to lead to comparison. Everyone is on their own journey in life and you should not compare yourself to others. It doesn’t do any good for you or your mental health. Deleting my Facebook account was the best decision I ever made and I actually wish I had done it sooner. When I started my blog, I ended up creating an Instagram account for the first time ever and to this day I only use social media for my business to showcase my work and blog posts.
4. Learn, Learn, Learn!
It’s always great to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby. When I started this blog a few years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I wanted to create a food blog because I love developing recipes and taking photos but I didn’t know how to create a website or how to go about purchasing a domain name. These were all new skills I chose to learn because I knew that this was something I was passionate about. I watched dozens of youtube tutorials online and read hundreds of articles on how to create a website, how to purchase a domain name, how to have your website hosted, the list goes on and on. These were all new skills that I learned all through watching free youtube tutorials. It’s never to late to pick up a new skill or hobby. Being out of college makes you a student of life and while I’ve learned so many things about myself in my 20s, I can’t wait to see all the new skills I’m going to learn in my thirties.
5. Save Money & Invest
I lived with my parents until I was 27. I saved all my money from my internships and my full-time jobs to eventually then purchase my first home in 2021. Living with parents isn’t always ideal, but for me that’s how I was able to save.
Investing is also really important. The worst thing you can do is have your money just sitting in your bank account, you might receive a small amount of interest but that’s it. Investing helps your money grow!
6. Move Your Body
My weight has fluctuated throughout my 20s and there were times throughout my 20s when I was really active and mindful of eating and then times where I wasn’t moving my body at all and eating trash. My metabolism turned on me the second I turned 25. I believe in working out in ways that are fun and attainable for yourself. For example, I love walking, dancing and swimming. You won’t really find me in a gym lifting 200 pounds, but if that’s what brings you joy then go for it!
Being mindful of what you eat is also key. Food is meant to be enjoyed, not punished.
7. Travel More
Travel is something that I actually neglected throughout my 20s I did take vacations but all them were mostly staycations. I started travelling a bit more in 2022, I went to France to visit my best friend, then I went to Iceland in October 2023 and California in January 2024. Spending money on experiences are more important to me than spending it on materialistic items. Some other countries I’d love to visit include London, India, Italy, Afghanistan, Bali and Thailand.
8. Go Outside
This might sound like a no brainer, but I actually have a hard time going outside during the weekday. A little bit of sunshine isn’t going to hurt! Plan out uninterrupted time in your schedule to go outside, even if it’s just for 5 minutes!
9. Read More
It’s so easy in today’s day and age to read everything online. When’s the last time you picked up a physical book and felt the pages? With people glued to their phones 24/7, it’s getting harder for people to stay off their phones. I even find myself at night reaching for my phone to see what the latest celebrity scandal is, but that can wait. I find that reading at night helps me wind down after a long day of staring at a computer screen.
10. Try Therapy
I started therapy when I was twenty and did it on and off throughout my 20s. It was such a life changing experience for me and I highly recommend it. I’m someone who struggles with anxiety, I’ve had it my entire life and speaking with a therapist helped me overcome so many hurdles and obstacles that anxiety comes with. I know that therapy isn’t for everyone, but don’t knock it until you try it!
11. Buy Only What You Need
I have a love/hate relationship with clothes, especially when my body is always fluctuating in size. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve gone through my closet only to get donate half of it and then repeat. I’ve gotten into a rhythm of only buying clothes when it is absolutely necessary. I like to wear clothes that are comfortable and breathable. I use to wear clothes to work that were so uncomfortable to sit in for 8+ hours and I will never put myself through that kind of torture again. If there’s a sweater that’s too itchy to wear, donate it! Your closet should spark joy, if you have any articles of clothing that you haven’t worn in years or it doesn’t spark joy, then donate it.
12. Meditate
Meditation is something I’ve been struggling with for years. I would have doctors tell me that meditation helps with anxiety and it wasn’t until three or four years ago that I decided to give it a shot and it did help to an extent. You have to start small. There’s tons of free meditation videos on youtube which I used and I started out with just meditation for five minutes and would gradually increase the time of the meditation when I felt ready. Meditation isn’t for everyone but just like therapy, don’t knock it until you try it.
13. Prioritize Sleep
To me, meditation and sleep go hand in hand. If you’re someone who struggles to fall asleep or can’t stop your mind from racing thoughts, then I recommend meditating before bed. When you’re in your 20s whether you’re up late at night partying or pulling an all-nighter studying, it’s easy to neglect sleep. It will absolutely catch up to you when you’re older. When you have to be up early in the morning for work each day, you’re going to wish you prioritized sleep when you were younger. Getting a good night’s rest is so important, it helps your mind and body rest. Try setting a sleep schedule that can help you get about 7-8 hours of sleep per night.
14. Having 1-2 Friends is Better than Having a Large Group of Friends
I’ve always had about 1-4 close friends that I always keep in touch with regardless of where we live in the world. I like the intimacy of having a small group of friends and it’s okay to have that than to have hundreds of friends that you may not personally know.
15. Keep a Daily Journal
I use to journal through college (in my early 20s) and immediately stopped when I started working full-time. I starting writing in a journal every day since the start of 2024 and it has helped me clear my head by just writing what’s on my mind and knowing it won’t judge me.
My journals throughout college store all my memories from what was going on in my life at that time and I can’t wait to create more memories in my thirties to look back on.
16. Be Comfortable Being Alone in Your 20s
I crave independence and alone time and absolutely love living by myself, however there was a time when all of this would have scared me. You have to learn to be comfortable being alone. When I moved out of my parents house and lived on my own for the first time, it was definitely scary. I only had myself and Nala, but overtime being alone actually made me feel really comfortable and secure.
17. No One Knows What They Are Doing
When I was in high school and college, I felt so much pressure to do more. It all starts with picking out a career, then selecting a college to go to, then trying to find your first job. All of this is unnecessary, there is no “right” path to life or a gold star that you earn. No one in their 20s knows what they are doing, I certainly didn’t! I was so caught up on internships and school that I didn’t really get to enjoy college or even go on vacation. If I could go back in time, I would have done things so differently. There is so much pressure put on students to be the best and achieve high grades, when in fact once you’re in the real world, none of that matters.
18. Don’t Judge Others
You never know what someone is going through in their life, try to be understanding.
19. It’s Hard Making Friends In Your 20s
As you get older, it’s a lot harder making genuine friends in your 20s. Once you’re out of college, most of the people you meet are your colleague. Even with apps, forming genuine connections are hard and finding good friends are harder to find.
20. What’s Meant To Be, Will Be
When I was twenty, I had an idea of what I thought my life would look like by thirty and where my life is at now isn’t even remotely close to what I envisioned. I am on my own path and am always learning new things about myself each and every day. These lessons that I learned throughout my 20s have helped and shaped me into the person I am today. I am grateful for all the positive and negative experiences in my 20s and am happy to close the chapter on start a new one entering my thirties. I hope to see you back in 10 years when I can share the 30 things I learned in my 30s!
