Your 20s are some of the best years of your life. They are your "selfish" years. It's a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Make sure you're making the most of it and not unkowingly self-sabotaging.
1. You’re self-sabotaging your life by comparing yourself to everyone around you.
You’re never going to live a content life if you’re constantly judging yourself against the lives other people have. It’s one of the hardest things to learn not to do, but the sooner you realize that the one person to measure your success against is YOU, the happier you will be.
2. You’re self-sabotaging by neglecting your health.
Spoiler Alert: Not taking care of yourself (physically, mentally, and everything in between) is why you feel like shit. You don’t have to commit to being a gym rat or going completely plant based or even weekly therapy – but not doing what you need to do in order to function and take care of yourself? You’re frankly, doing yourself a pretty big disservice.
3. You’re self-sabotaging by giving people chances when they don’t deserve them.
If you know someone is bad for you, and they’re acting exactly the same as they always have, it’s probably not a great decision to “hope they’ve changed.”
4. You’re self-sabotaging by listening to advice you didn’t really need.
You don’t need to believe anyone who says, “That’s what your twenties are for.” If it (no matter what it is) doesn’t feel right, trust your gut.
5. You’re self-sabotaging by not really understanding the value of a dollar.
You will thank yourself IMMENSELY if you just start saving $100 a month right now. In five years, that will be $6,000.
6. You’re self-sabotaging by not reaching out to the people you love.
Call your family. Call your friends. Tell them how much you appreciate them and need them and love them. Don’t be one of those people who is consistently MIA and feels bad about it.
7. You’re self-sabotaging by not spreading your wings a little bit.
If you feel stuck in a rut, you probably are. But you know who can change that? You can. Don’t say no to things because they’re outside of what you typically do. Take some chances, live a little. At the very least, you’ll get some good stories out of it.
8. You’re self-sabotaging by living entirely behind a screen.
We all love social media, but we all need to give it a rest. Social media is not real life, and acting as though it is is why we all are disappointed to not be walking around in an A6 or A7 VSCO filter. Remember that there is more to life than follows, likes, or status updates. You will feel vastly more full and content when you accept that.
9. You’re self-sabotaging by not thinking that there is more you could be doing.
Being content is great, however, you owe it to yourself to also push yourself. If you never do, you’ll never know what you’re made of. And isn’t that worth figuring out?
10. You’re self-sabotaging by living your entire life for the weekend.
Partying is a blast. Some of the best times of your life are going come from late nights, earlier mornings, and from acting a little wild. But you can’t lose yourself to partying. You want to be able to actually remember your memories, not just piece them together from blurry selfies and a national treasure map of bar stamps on your hand the next morning.
11. You’re self-sabotaging by never admitting when you’re wrong.
Learn to apologize to people. Even when it sucks. Even when you don’t want to. Even when you feel like you yourself might be owed an apology. Learning to be the bigger person is something that will honestly serve you for the rest of your life. Figure out how to own your mistakes, seriously. It will make your life easier.
12. You’re self-sabotaging by refusing to change.
You’re going to change as a person. Shocking, I know. But if you’re constantly balking at growth because it doesn’t look how you thought it would? All you’re really doing is just stunting yourself from becoming who you were meant to be.
13. You’re self-sabotaging by planning everything out and thinking you can outsmart life.
“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” is a cliché saying for a reason. If you think you can plan your life out to a T, you’re wrong.
14. You’re self-sabotaging by not speaking up for yourself.
You know what you need, you know how you feel, you know what you want to say. So say it. Be your own best advocate. You can’t expect anyone else to do it, so do it for yourself.
15. You’re self-sabotaging by not allowing yourself space and permission to just exist.
Lastly, you owe it to yourself to just give yourself a damn break. No one ever accomplished everything they set out to or built their "dream life" in a day. You deserve to give yourself the kind of patience you give other people. You have time. You can relax. You will be okay. Even better than okay, you're probably going to be incredible. You just have to allow yourself to get there.
