Approaching 25 From My 30 Year Old Perspective

These old posts keep popping up in my facebook memories and they seem to be worth revisiting. My blog is like a time capsule of my life. It’s crazy, some of the things I used to think or some of the things that really had me distraught and befuddled. I’m writing this because I think it’s important for me to reflect on how much things have changed in 6 years. I’m going to have a separate post for wrapping up things specific to year 30, but this is fun too!

Here are 25 notes to my 25 year old self before I actually turn 25.

1. Heyyy girl!
2. Journal more often. I definitely journal more. I get a reminder everyday, but I probably do it twice a week. Sometimes more. 
3. Pray on good days and bad ones. I pray more on bad days or high times of anxiety. I should continue to work on praying through good times. I do believe I am more grateful and express my gratitude more often.
4. Stop binge eating on your period...it makes you fat. So a year after this, I was diagnosed with diabetes. You know what makes you eat? Knowing that maybe you shouldn’t. 
5. Girl get your driver's license...this has reached the point of embarrassment. I think the license came a month after this and the car came in 2020.
6. Go on dates. This is laughable. I still don’t go on many dates but that’s because men. Yeah we’ll leave that there.
7. Get your hair trimmed. It’s funny how long this has been a concern for me. This gets taken care of more regularly. 
8. Try harder to like other adults. LMAO I have no chill. Wow!!! I’m happy to say that I’ve made new friends in adulthood. It’s pretty cool.
9. Travel please. Let’s talk about how this goal came more from pressure than internal desire. I do believe travel to be important, but it’s not anything I would add to a goal list.
10. Don't quit the gym. I quit the gym…several times.
11. Remember that anger is one of the 7 deadly sins. Anger is a normal human emotion that I am allowed to feel. 
12. Learn to roll with things. You can't see everything coming. This! Still gold.
13. Don't get lost in logistics. If you want something...get it. Write things down. I had to start writing things down. Things do not just appear in your lap because you want them. 
14. Don't be afraid to admit that you want love and affection. I WANT ROMANTIC LOVE AND AFFECTION. My friends got me together on the platonic love.
15. DENIAL IS A TRAP. For real!
16. Make sure that what you're doing, no matter how small, is what's best for you. My boundaries are so clear on this that people don’t usually ask me the same question more than once. I’m always choosing Ashley. 
17. Turn off Kehlani sometimes...she'll have you all up in yo feelins She came out with this album that I didn’t really like…so I did take a break!
18. It's ok to drop big money on things that are worth it. 24 year old you spent a lot of small increments of money with nothing to show for it for real. I’m still not good at this. 
19. Teacher's can have a life. Get organized, manage your time and stop using that as an excuse. *Pandemic teaching enters the chat* buuuut I do make more time for what I want at the sacrifice of going above and beyond sometimes…My worst day at school is still better than some people’s best. I’m not the perfect teacher and there has definitely been a decline since 2020, but I still don’t suck. 
20. Start looking for your next apartment, it has to be a good one. I’ve only been out of that apartment for 1 year lol
21. Make a new 101 things in 1001 days list! No.
22. Get more adventurous in the kitchen...maybe buy a weird cook book. I didn’t buy a weird cook book but I’ve tried several meal kits and have cooked things I never would’ve tried otherwise. 
23. Read more autobiographies. Absolutely! I’ve done this. 
24. Appreciate the bad experiences just as much as the good ones. I now give myself grace to feel the feelings that come with bad experiences, but I definitely understand that everything happens the way it’s supposed to. 
​25. Love yourself more than anyone else ever could. I still think there’s 2 people out there who love me more than I love me.