This week I turn 23, so I decided to take some time to trace the last year and come up with a list of various things I learned (or discovered, or experienced for the first time) while I was 22. I’ll admit, I stole this idea from another blogger (from whom I’ve been reading for…eight or nine years? Wow, now I really feel old). But I thought it was a great idea, so why not nab it?
So, without further ado, here are some highlights of things I learned as a 22-year-old:
1. Filing one’s taxes isn’t (quite) as scary as it sounds.
2. Actually a lot of adult responsibilities aren’t as bad as I expect them to be. Like applying for a Concealed Carry License, or talking on the phone, or replacing batteries in soap dispensers…
3. How to navigate Oxford on a bicycle.
4. I can write a 17,000-word play in two weeks.
5. I should plan better so that I NEVER have to write a 17,000-word play in two weeks EVER again.
6. How to make bread!
7. The fabulous power of WordPress plugins (seriously, there’s a plugin for just about everything and they save SO MUCH TIME).
8. How to recognize the Chinese character for “tea” (I’m bilingual, guys!!).
9. Also, bubble tea. It’s pretty cool.
10. I can actually speak in front of a class of college students (i.e. without fainting).
11. How Pinterest works (more or less).
12. Blush pink shoes match literally everything.
13. How to pipe frosting flowers (only two kinds, but hey, it’s something).
14. How to play Triominoes (which I didn’t know existed).
15. If you give the Kittywham kitty a bandana and patriotic colors, she’s actually Rosie the Riveter. (Also I learned that Photoshop is a serious procrastination tool…)
16. How to use WooCommerce and MailChimp.
17. ALWAYS take Dramamine before a long flight. Bad things happen if you don’t.
18. How to make a snow-horse! (Well, I did very little of the work, but I watched in admiration!)
19. Andrew Peterson. I listened to all his music and read his books for the first time this year, and he’s truly an outstanding artist.
20. How to survive conventions as an exhibitor!
21. A lot of things about collapsed lungs. (Such as, DON’T get on a plane with a collapsed lung; DO see a doctor if you have chest/back pain and a racing pulse and shortness of breath; and DO thank God every day for a healthy body!)
22. And, speaking of being thankful, all in all I’m coming away from 22 with refreshed gratitude for the life I’m living with family and friends I love, and work that animates me, and a very present God who loves me with steadfast patience and abundant joy.
It’s been a good year, and an even better lies ahead.