Going back to when you were younger you had no idea what life was going to be like. You were just an innocent little kid trying to learn how to eat, sleep a lot, talk, and even walk to find yourself hiding in corners you weren’t supposed to be at. As you get older, you get told there are valuable lessons you need to be learning and taking them in because you will need them for the real world. Being alive for twenty years may not be enough for some, but for me, looking back at everything that has come my way has gifted me with a lesson to learn even when I don’t realize it right away. Here are twenty lessons, starting from age one, I have learned in twenty years.

1) If you can’t hear, or speak, the best thing to learn at one is how to use the bathroom. The sooner you can throw those Huggies in the trash bin the better your life will be.

2) Don’t scream, spin around in circles and bash your head against the wall to get the things you want, that’s not how life is going to work forever.

3) When you can hear and talk, it’s not so bad. You finally have the chance to ask for that toy you’ve been wanting to play with for the last hour.

4) If you think you have superpowers just by closing your eyes one minute at night and the second you open them it’s morning, think again.

5) The keyword in pre-school, is pre. You’re not being sent out of the house for no reason, you’re learning how to adapt in a school environment so you might want to be part of the classroom.

6) Breaking bones in your body is a normal thing that happens in life, you just don’t know how badly your injury will be until it happens and go to the hospital.

7) If you made a best friend in the classroom, keep them; no matter how much they annoy you, just accept it and move on because they will never forget you in the future.

8) If you’re bringing in food for your birthday, be sure you eat it too, don’t forget it at home and share it with the class, trust me, it won’t be a good birthday if you don’t.

9) Hard work does pay off (yes, I learned this at age 9), in the end you will get something that shows how you’ve proven yourself (like a cat puzzle for having the most stickers on their sticker card).

10) The more school you miss, the harder it is to make up the assignments in a time managing manner (coming from a very sick fourth grader at age 10, it’s true).

11) You’re no longer going to be treated like a kid, the world gets real but somehow, you’re still sheltered unless your exposed to something bad in your family.

12) Don’t cut off people in your life when you move away from your hometown unless you have a very good reason to, they always have a part of your life.

13) Friday the 13^th birthdays aren’t that bad, you should just make the best of them no matter how much bad luck wants to come your way on this superstitious day.

14) Once you lose a loved one close to you, you really should value who you have left in your family, who you’re friends with and whoever you know.

15) High school is the start of everything new; a new chapter in your life and the start of something you’re not going to be used to right away.

16) Be sure this year alone is the best year of your life and let it encourage you to keep making every year after that better than the last.

17) You’re going to start realizing everything is going to change because you’ll be ending high school and not everyone is going to stick around no matter what path you take.

18) College isn’t what you expect it to be the first year; it’ll either be easy or difficult for you, depending if you want to take this path. If not, then that’s all up to you.

19) Be careful who you surround yourself with, not everyone is going to want to grow up right away and be away from all the drama. Sometimes, you'll have to act like this gif.

20) You said you wanted to be an adult, well look at you now. It isn’t easy huh? Try to be a kid on the inside as long as you can, it’ll help in the long run.

All these lessons might be valuable to you, but if they don’t you might want to start learning some of them now. It’s not too late to start, you have all of 2017 to learn these lessons.