It's weird to think that you can go your whole life without knowing something that you might one day consider to be essential.
1. "'Everything worth doing is worth doing half-ass.' You can do a part of something; it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can clean a room and not the whole house. You can eat a salad with your burger. We have a tendency to be like, 'Everything has to be done 110%, or it’s not worth it.' I think about people who laugh at people taking a diet soda with a burger: Well, why the hell not? You don’t have to be all in 100%, and that makes the pressure more bearable sometimes!"
2. "Other women know how to clasp their bras behind their backs. As a teen I learned to clasp it in front of me, then twist it around awkwardly...and then never stopped doing that."
3. "It's better to be alone than in an unfulfilling or abusive relationship. Don't continue dating someone if you constantly think, Give it time — things might get better. That puts you in a never-ending loop that becomes more difficult to get out of as time goes on."
4. "That if I am unfulfilled as an individual, my partner will never be able to fulfill me either. This is similar to the idea that if you don’t love yourself, you can’t unconditionally love others."
5. "Friend breakups can hurt just as much, if not more, than romantic ones."
6. "I did not know that the need to pee all the time would start well before the third trimester. I was very unprepared and wondered why these things weren't more commonly discussed or at least why the women in my life hadn't warned me about them."
7. "I didn’t learn it recently, but I learned it earlier in life — don’t share stuff with your coworkers. Just mind your own business."
8. "I didn’t know how much of an impact making my bed in the morning had on me."
9. "Exercising does actually feel good, and it’s not just pretentious claims made by fit influencers!"
10. "Not recently, but I learned that being your own friend is one of the best things you can do for yourself. The only time in my life I started making friends was when I started being my own friend first, taking care of my health, going to the gym, taking myself out, exploring on my own, and learning on my own. Not only did it help me make friends, but it also helped me feel less lonely, as I really started enjoying my own company! I became an interesting person to be."
11. "If you're going to take inappropriate selfies, disable the photo sync to your mom's iCloud first."
12. "I recently started dating someone about a week and a half ago, and he seems so healthy. Everything he says is with intention, and it seems so out of this world to me. I've had so many bad relationships and friendships and people just mistreating me that I almost don't know what to do with myself. I learned that it's OK to trust what someone is saying and forgiving people that hurt you in the past (WITHOUT giving them too much energy) is so healing. I hope this relationship really is healthy, and I'm hoping for a better future with him by my side. Yes, I know this is super early, but I finally understand the phrase, 'When you know, you know.'"
13. "Not to mess with my birth control. The hormone imbalance was an unpleasant experience."
14. "Quality matters more than quantity when it comes to friends. I started to notice that most of my friends weren’t really my friends, only drinking buddies, and it hindered my process of getting sober for a while. I didn’t want to lose them, but then I realized that if they couldn’t be with me in my sobriety journey, they couldn’t be in my life at all. I’m 67 days into cutting back, and 12 days into not touching alcohol at all. My life is better without those people. I only have three friends now, but it’s worth it. The support and encouragement I get from them outweigh the sadness of losing everyone else."
15. "A consistent sleep schedule and plenty of sleep every night actually works. It won’t cure your depression/chronic illness/various maladies, but it makes it much easier to face them in the morning. And when I say morning, I mean it; even if you’re semi-nocturnal like me, it is so much easier to get important stuff done during the day. This is the most annoying realization I’ve had all year, but brains simply work better when they are rested and refreshed."
16. "Replace your pillows every 1–2 years. Lots of mold and allergens get stuck in there. I finally stopped feeling sick when I changed them out."
17. "Not super recently, but way too late in life: Don't rinse after brushing your teeth. Why is nobody going around telling people that? We had a whole toothbrushing course in primary school, and they never even mentioned it."
What's a life lesson you wish you learned sooner? Tell me in the comments!
Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.