Today marks 24 years on this Earth…. And I couldn’t be more happy with where I’ve been in the past and where I am today.

And it’s a time for reflecting and appreciating, so I wanted to share some things that I have learned and welcomed into my life while 23.

Embracing Youth  

23 IS SO YOUNG.

Starting my official first big gal job (with benefits and 401K and everything), I realized that 23 is so much younger than my 18 year-old freshman self thought. I am surrounded by others in their 30’s and 40’s, and I am definitely a baby in the office.

Instead of trying to grow up, I embrace the youth, while still staying professional. Young people coming in helps grow businesses, and I want others to realize that it’s okay to be young. Accept it and use it to your advantage.

Using The Full Week

I guess it’s not just for 23-year-olds, but it’s better to learn as soon as you can. Weekends aren’t the only thing to look forward to. It can be Yoga and Beer events on Wednesdays. Or Trivia on Thursdays. Or having a Taco Tuesday celebration every Tuesday at your house.

It’s still weird for me to accept that being adult has little rules to follow (except the law and taxes, but duh). I can have friends over on a Tuesday until 10:30pm. I can go to a midnight showing of a movie before work on Friday. While sleep is very important to me, I still love finding ways to prevent me from stopping work at 4 pm just to watch Hulu all night til 11pm (which is totally okay sometimes too…  just don’t want to do that every night).

Read more about this here. 

Having Roommates Is The Best

Due to the housing and rent market, having roommates is becoming less and less taboo for apres college life. And while I’m young, I’m realizing that roommates is something that is hard to replicate if you live alone or with your spouse.

You get someone to automatically be there for game nights. Or dinner. Or if you want someone to run errands with. Or someone to go camping with. Ride bikes around with. Or just sitting in the same room as someone else can be so comforting.

While Nic and I talk about owning our own place a lot, I still want to cherish our present situation. We always reminisce about our college roommates, and that was a time when we lived 5 minutes to our friends, but what about when we live 20 minutes? 30 minutes? A hour?

Having roommates is such an opportunity for growth… so use it wisely.

And The Other Little Things….

While these have been the most notable lessons, I wanted to share some little things I have learned:

How to change my car headlight.

How to perfect air fryer fries.

What it feels like to be in a Magnitude 5 Earthquake (and that I didn’t take that Natural Disasters course my senior year for nothing).

How to backcountry ski (very novice still).

How to install a dryer tube.

How to do a double heel hook (jk… I guess I did this, but I honestly can’t remember how I did it).

That Wild Basin is the superior spiked seltzer.

That it takes me 3 minutes to (literally) run back from the store.

How to sew a ski neck tube.

That Coalatree Trailhead shorts are the best adventure shorts out there… (check them out here and match with me)

How to successfully buy bulk items.

That having a plant-based lifestyle is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

But that’s for another time… so stay tuned next week to learn more about my vegan-niversary.

 

Your now 24-year-old nacforadventurer and full-time plant eater,

 

AJ