I remember 2016 like it’s a fever dream. It’s almost cliche to say that it was surreal, but it truly felt like a walking into a haze of new experiences. You go in blindly and hope for the best. It was the year I turned 25, which 15 year old me would have imagined as someone who had her life together (maybe married, even). A few months after turning 25, I came across a post (that is most likely from Thought Catalog and other similar websites) entitled “25 Things You Should Learn by 25”. I can still vividly picture how I reacted to it, as although the list is filled with valid, and yet also vague life suggestions such as –
- It’s okay to make mistakes
- Don’t compare yourself to other
- It’s fine if you don’t have your life figured out yet
- Traveling broadens your horizons
- Know your passion
- Stop giving fucks
Maybe it was because I knew how I don’t tick all the items in that checklist (aside from that red check mark in bold for #3), but I felt like I needed a more realistic (read: also practical) list of things that I needed to know by that age. My list contained
- The basics in starting your retirement fund
- Filing for taxes, and making sure that you get any possible tax refunds
- Doing your own laundry (hand washing your delicates, separating white from colored fabrics, and knowing which bleach to use)
- Cashing on credit card rebates (and taking advantage of any financial offers to improve your credit rating)
- Knowing which aspects in your life needs an insurance (which would be everything if you have the funds for it)
- Know how to cook rice without using a rice cooker (because I’m Asian and we eat rice with every meal haha)
- Know how to cook something aside from instant meals and rice (because what would you eat rice with, and I see knowing how to feed yourself a life skill)
- Knowing how to prepare ingredients (because I know people who were privileged enough to never have to prepare their own meals at this age)
..and honestly at that point, my list started turning into a subjective list of food-related things. Last week I turned 27, and felt that I need to apologize to the content creators who make this generic lists because I realized just how hard to make a list that would actually apply to everybody. I guess age does give you perspective. So here’s to hoping that I continuously learn as I age and gain more life experiences, and always becoming a better version of myself! Cheers! 🙂
Belated happy birthday to you! I laughed when I saw your “actual” list because it’s actually the list that we all should be doing for ourselves in reality. Thanks for giving me an idea that I should be putting up a list for myself 🙂
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Thank you, Bia! ❤
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I love your lists more! Please do a longer one hahaha.
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Hahaha I’ll try, maybe next year! 😀
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