What I Wish I Knew At Age 20

Here's everything everyone wish they knew at the age of 20. If it's good advice, hit the upvote button. The number next to it indicates the age the author wrote it at. Feel like there's something missing? Add a new message!

Hey 20 year old, It's best to have a career you are passionate about, but the ideal career is never going to be 100% fun all the time. Even if you love a career, likely 80% of it will be fun, and at least 20% of it is exhausting. That's normal. Work is still work.

Hey 20 year old, You can't change the past, but you can change the future. What happened in the past doesn't have to determine your future. As long as you're alive, you can always start over, start anew and find a new beginning.

Hey 20 year old, If you forgot the type of things that made you happy, look back in childhood when you were very young to see the types of things that you enjoyed.

Hey 20 year old, PS : If you want to learn more about why the world is such a mess, look up the stages of spiral dynamics, based on a psychology study by Dr. Clare Graves of the stages to maturity.

Hey 20 year old, When stuck on a lack of inspiration, borrow ideas from multiple sources and combine it into something new. Have more than one passion and can't decide what to choose? Find a way to combine it into one big project.

Hey 20 year old, Obey and respect your dad

Hey 20 year old, Sometimes to vent to someone you hate that you've released contact from, write an angry letter or as many as you want to them without sending it. Then if you want, destroy it.

Hey 20 year old, In this world, everyone wants you to be someone else. Just know that if you want to find yourself, you need some time alone to reflect. If you don't know how to be alone, then you're going to have to learn how to not be lost.

Hey 20 year old, There's no one right way to live life. There are definitely wrong and immoral ways to live life, but that doesn't mean there is only one right choice. A different way to live is not necessarily wrong.

Hey 20 year old, Sometimes in life, there are multiple factors and causes to a problem in life, especially if it's a larger problem for much of society. Solving one cause doesn't mean every other thing is solved. It's complicated.

Hey 20 year old, Know that love doesn't mean someone controlling your every move and action because they 'love' you, whether that's in romance, in friendship, in family or anything else. Real love allows the other to be themselves.

Hey 20 year old, As a young adult, it's helpful to look up the signs of a narcissist or even sociopaths/psychopaths, which may even be less obvious than movies may portray it to be. Look up "stages of narcissistic relationships," too.

Hey 20 year old, If you want a complex system to handle more complicated personal development issues, I suggest looking into Enneagram or looking up websites like Personality Hacker, Personality Junkie, Psychology Junkie and Personality Growth.

Hey 20 year old, If you want to learn a new skill from a specialized place focused on it rather than random places on social media, look up "websites to learn (chosen skill.)" Whatever it is, there always is some website that will teach you, even for free.

Hey 20 year old, If you don't know how to have sex and how to masturbate even as a legal adult, especially as a woman, it's okay to look it up and delete your browser history. Be safe and informed about this, before you try.

Hey 20 year old, In business and talk to people in confidence

Hey 20 year old, Yes, it's ideal if you end up with a career you love, and I'm not saying give up on that. Just know that if it doesn't turn out that way early on, that a career is not the only place you can find meaning in life in, after all.

Hey 20 year old, PS : If you have the attention span to understand personal development in 1 hour+ videos, look up Actualized.org if you want in depth videos for existential crises, not just the mundane.

Hey 20 year old, Learn to see different perspectives on one issue. I'm not saying you have to agree with everything, but consider as many opinions over an issue as possible. If you seek advice only in one or a few places, seek others' views.

Hey 20 year old, Without needing to have it as a degree, it's helpful for anyone to learn psychology for their own mental health and to learn how to talk to others. Look up for example Verywell Mind, Healthline, Psychology Today, Psych2Go or Healthy Gamer GG.

Hey 20 year old, You don't need one grand singular purpose of life. Sometimes people's purpose in life is to do a variety of random things and to contribute to the world with multiple random projects throughout their life.

Hey 20 year old, If you're interested in big philosophical questions to think about life, I suggest looking into philosophical schools like existentialism, absurdism, stoicism, and even Eastern philosophy if you keep wondering about questions like that.

Hey 20 year old, If you want financial advice that is not generic "believe in yourself" kind of stuff, I personally like the blogs the Penny Hoarder, Get Rich Slowly, Mr. Money Mustache, Clever Girl Finance, Money Under 30, The Simple Dollar, and Women Who Money.

Hey 20 year old, If you need help with self care, there are apps like Woebot, Wysa, Aloebud, Fabulous, Finch, Plant Nanny Water Tracker Log, To Don't, Happify, Habitica, Sparkle, Focus Plant, Insight Timer, Headspace, Calm and Shine.

Hey 20 year old, Know the signs of depression, the signs of anxiety, and especially the signs of suicidal thoughts. You or other people around you may be exhibiting these symptoms, so please at the very least, look it up online.

Hey 20 year old, If you want to look into therapy, I suggest looking into ones such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MSBR).

Hey 20 year old, nothing just worried about futur

Hey 20 year old, When you envy other people's successes, know that you never see the struggles that made them who you were today. For example, if you know someone muscular in the gym, you've never seen how for years before, they were far from that.

Hey 20 year old, If you use Google Chrome, look up the Chrome Web Store to find some free useful extensions related to things like productivity, accessibility, search tools, shopping and even the fun section that can come surprisingly in handy for nearly everything.

Hey 20 year old, If you want help practicing self care and you like podcasts, you can look up ones like Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women, Therapy for Black Girls, Brown Girl Self-Care, The Science of Self Care, The Self Care Chronicle, and more.