inspiration

10 Mistakes to Make by 25

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Maxie must know that my looming 25th birthday has been on my mind recently! I’m actually pretty excited about the birthday because I think life gets better and better every year. Part of that is absolutely the result of making– and learning from– mistakes made the year before. As I read through her post, I silently checked off all the ones I’ve made. Lo and behold, I can honestly say that I’ve “accomplished” 80% of them. Yay? Haha. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it on here, but I once interviewed for a job in Boston that was four hours long and I absolutely bombed it. There were five “parts” to the interview with four sections of sitting down with different employees, each of whom played a different interviewer role. None of it went particularly well, but it was the last interview section that really went as bad as it could go. Yikes. I will say though that it made me over prepare for the next interview and it was all been uphill after that!
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10 Mistakes to Make by 25
I’m sure every one of you has had some serious success. Whether it was the state field hockey championship or finally getting your blog launched, having those wonderful times in our lives are fun and exhilarating. The life “wins” are easy to talk about, and they give us a lot of pride when someone congratulates us. 
But on the flip side of all that good stuff, are the bad times. The serious failures. The unintentional times we totally blew it. They are the times that we feel the absolute worst. However, it’s in those dark moments, the embarrassing moments, the “I’m never going to recover from this” moments that we find our character. So why is it then that we don’t talk about them more?
Our late teens and twenties are such a time of self discovery. If I look back on those years now, I made some of the biggest mistakes… but I’m still alive. I’m still here. And you will be, too. Whether through your grit or resilience, you will bounce back from messing up. Make your mistakes early so that less is at play and you have more years to never do it again. Oh, and when you do mess up… know that you’re not alone.

1. Botch a big interview: Whether you’re completely unprepared or get so nervous that you can hardly give an answer, failing terribly at an interview will ensure that you are always prepared for the things that matter to you. And when they ask you those questions next time, you’ll have the answers.
2. Put something you shouldn’t on Social Media: If you put a big graphic with the F word on it and your boss saw, or you were showcased in some not so great pictures and your parents saw, making an error in social media will have consequences you learn from. And it’ll finally force you to learn those privacy settings like the back of your hand (which everyone should do.)
3. Connect your computer to a projector without closing all of windows: Cue the embarrassment, enough said.
4. Say yes, when you should have said no: You’ll feel guilty and stressed out like I did. You’ll know saying yes happened because you just wanted to be nice. And you’ll realize how important it is to drop that need to be liked and to just say no… often.
5. Impulsively buy something you can’t afford: If it’s the flats you’d been dreaming of or that really amazing winter jacket, buying something on the spot and then having insane buyers remorse will help curb your habits. No wardrobe piece is worth the feeling of possibly not having money to make rent or pulling money out of your saving account.
6. Be the crazy one: show up at his or her house unexpected. Tell him you love him. Scream on the sidewalk. Just for once, be the one somebody calls crazy. It’s the best feeling to know you put it all out there, even if you feel like an idiot the next day. 
7. Have a wardrobe malfunction: Like a major one. Like your full-zip back dress busting at a celebrity superbowl party leaving your entire backside naked, like you’re rocking a black hospital gown. Let’s just say you’ll never make that mistake again.
8. Reply all on an email meant for one person, and be red faced for the rest of the day: Next time you’ll slow down before pressing send on those comments. And anything you do put in writing, you’ll edit next time.
9. Screw up gender: call Jamie a she in a train of about 10 emails, and then get on an interview call with her and realize Jamie is actually a man. You’ll always think twice before associating a name to a particular gender.
10. Love the wrong person: They weren’t the one for you. Whether it was a lover or a best friend, making a big ole mistake in creating relationships with the wrong people will show you how important that love is. How important it is to give it to the right people. And how picky you should be with your time.
You probably have your list of mistakes too…any you think should have been included?


xoxo
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32 Comments

Annie

I kind of love this!! Mistakes are good things and while at first they seem like the biggest thing in the entire world eventually they lead us to where we a meant to go. Without mistakes how do you learn? Number 9 is my favorite! I mixed up a Taylor once… who knew it would be a guy not a girl?! haha

Annie
Annie N Belle

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Rebecca Field

I love this!
I had my "Adult realisation" moment when I graduated last year and found myself Googling things like: "30 things to do by 30" and "things I wish I had known at 21". I think one definite mistake I am still making is to let people pressure me into doing things because it's the 'done thing' (like going to university, or moving out), rather than figuring out what it is I want to do for myself. Hopefully something I can work on in the upcoming years!

http://www.foreverrebecca.com

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Anne

I'm turning 26 this year and can honestly say I've made all ten mistakes. And it forms you, I even believe it's good to make mistakes like these, to learn from and move on. Great post 🙂

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Alyssa J Freitas

I still have a few years left to make all of these mistakes! Another that should be included is forgetting a friend's birthday. I have the WORST memory so now I put all important dates on my digital calendar.

Alyssa | Keep It Simple

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Miss Jessie

I have the gender mistake before. I spend most of my day on the phone at work, so I try to be very careful and just address the person by their first name. 🙂

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Hayden Lee

I suffer from number 5 quite often! And even though I'm only a sophomore in college, I've completed most of these. That can't be a good thing! But, oh well, life goes on!

Hayden
mylifeashayden.blogspot.com

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Plucky

I don't know…. I felt like the crazy one, and I'm grateful for the experience, but I'm not sure I can say I've "embraced" it. I felt a bit pathetic and out-of-it, to be honest.

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Megan Denton

My skirt zipper busted at work, with my g string on full display for all of my colleagues. And they kindly let me walk from one side of the office to the door, without saying a word. Nailed it.

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Kathie Truitt

Okay, ladies. I'm 52. And all I can say…no – all I can PROMISE you is that you're 20's are not your 'prime'. Please run far, far away from anyone that tells you otherwise. Life really does get better the older you get. Just wait.

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