Years ago, when I turned 27, I tried to encapsulate some of the most important life lessons I had learned. Some of them are about life in general; some stem from my Christian faith. I hope these can inspire you, no matter where you are in your journey!
1. Learning to differentiate between work and rest – and allowing yourself regular time for rest apart from sleep – is imperative.
2. Creating regular, intentional time to do what you love – biking, crafting, cooking, whatever it may be – will help you keep perspective and stay in touch with yourself.
3. Exploring new places can be fun, but learning to be content where you are is essential. The grass is not necessarily greener.
4. Taking time to gaze into the sky or meditate on the moon each day can have a surprising effect on your perspective.
5. Meaningful community is crucial to your wellbeing. You were created for relationship.
6. Meaningful community takes time to cultivate. Lots of time.
7. The time you take to cultivate community is worth every minute.
8. Friendships after college require intentionality.
9. Self-care is not selfish. Caring for yourself helps you care for others.
10. You can only love others well to the degree that you love yourself.
11. You will be able to love yourself authentically when you receive God’s love for you. (Note: this can be difficult.)
12. Loving yourself authentically is a process, and it involves differentiating between healthy self-love and pride.
13. Comparing yourself to other people is one of the greatest hindrances to self-love, and therefore to receiving God’s love.
14. Knowing your needs and acting on them is empowering and frees you from resenting other people.
15. It is good to experience a period of loneliness (even though it doesn’t feel good at the time).
16. It is only when you make peace with your inner solitude – the knowledge that no person can ever fully know all of you – that you can be in right relation to other people.
17. The fact that God knows all of you is pretty unbelievable. But when you are finally able to believe it, you will be able to entrust every part of your life to God’s care.
18. Trusting God daily is really hard. But it is worth the effort.
19. Sometimes, not needing to understand can be freeing. Not needing to understand leads you to a posture of surrender; surrender leads you to God.
20. God is nearest when you are going through something hard, and when you feel pain.
21. What you want is often different from what you need. God knows what you need.
22. You are only as strong as your admitted weakness.
23. You are only as strong as your dependence on God in your admitted weakness.
24. You are enough as you are.
25. You will be able to believe you are enough as you are when you are satisfied with what God has for you. You will be enough for God when God is enough for you.
26. Courage is something God gives you when you decide to trust. It doesn’t mean not feeling afraid.
27. Following your own path can feel scary at times, but living into a life that is authentic to who you are is worth the fear – it is now and will be many years from now.