1. When the instructions say "Two-person assembly," it really means two people. 

As a self-proclaimed "independent woman" who will exhaust all of her options before asking for help, I honestly thought that the people who wrote the assembly instructions were being a little too... soft (for a lack of words) when they wrote that the small dresser I ordered would require two people to put together. I was proven wrong when a couple of steps in, I realized that there were parts that I could definitely not hold up by myself.

2. DO NOT SKIP ANY STEPS!

If you're on a time crunch, it is absolutely not the time to be assembling furniture. I may or may not have gotten a little too frustrated over the process and tried to skip around....hint: don't ever do that.

3. Do not stop to take a break. It will just make you never want to go back and finish the job. 

I had some time to reflect as I sat on my bedroom floor on the brink of tears ready to give up. What was supposed to be a 10-minute break turned into an hour-long self-analysis of my life.

4. The instruction manual is your best friend.

Follow it word-for-word. Please. And "Screw B" actually means "Screw B." Even if they look identical, screws "A" and "B" are NOT the same! I learned this halfway through putting my desk together when I realized that some pieces are unfortunately not "one screw fits all." You'll be surprised to learn that many tears followed this discovery.

5. It's okay to ask for help!

As I mentioned before, I will try almost anything before I have to ask for help. In this case, I think I tried too hard. Doing everything by yourself means nothing if you end up doing it completely wrong and wasting time.

After realizing that this was unquestionably not a solo job, I did what any mature, self-sufficient adult would do...I called my mom.