Cate's Writer Room

23 things i learned before turning 23

          I'm turning 23 in three months.

          It's very scary and, sometimes, it feels like time is going backwards. On the other hand, I feel like the past years have been full of learning experiences and I thought I'd share some of that wisdom with you.

— Inspired by Taylor Swift's "30 things I've learned before turning 30" article

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1. Yes, you're going to miss out if you skip that lecture.

          I'm known for my grades.

          Modesty aside, getting good grades is one of the few things I'm good at, and I take great pride in that. With that being said, one of the reasons why I've consistently maintained a good GPA is because I force myself to go to lectures even when all I want to do is stay in bed all day.

          I've moved houses since my first year of college and now I'm living a lot farther from my college, meaning I have to get up earlier and it takes me a lot longer to get there and to come back home. That certainly affected my motivation, along with other factors related to my health and other personal reasons, and, last semester, I think I skipped more lectures than the ones I actually attended.

          I lived. My grades were the exact same as they used to be, but there were times when I really regretted skipping some lectures because I felt like I could have learned so much more. After all, I'm almost a professional clinical psychologist—I have to learn these things!

2. It's okay to click that block button and move on.

          The block button on social media exists for a reason. So does the mute button.

          Instead of repeatedly beating myself up over things I can't control (we'll get there), instead of giving toxic people the power to ruin my day over and over again, I've learned to click that button and move on with my day. Having to resort to blocking and muting says more about those people than it does about me; I only do it as a last resort, when there's nothing that can be done, and it's been great.

3. Sometimes things just won't work out and you need to stop pushing it.

          My ex-boyfriend and I have been on and off for the past two years. It hasn't done us any good, it's pretty clear we're simply not good together, and that's not ever going to change. For whatever reason, we kept going back to each other after long periods of not talking, without properly working on our issues, and it's just toxic.

          Then, we let go. It hurt like hell.

          But it's okay. At the end of the day, it's okay.

4. You're going to lose friends along the way.

          In 2018, I had a massive argument with someone who had been my friend for twelve years. Long story short, I got stabbed in the back, was talked about behind said back, and got villified for things I hadn't even done.