May all the souls of the faithful departed, through the Mercy of God, rest in peace. In memorial today of all those who gave their lives for the freedom we have in this country.

Quarter of a century! Which means I’m closer to being 30 years old than I am to being a wee high school grad. Before all you 30+ year olds start coming after me, I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with this! We all go to die one day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have not done one of these “things I’ve learned” posts in a while, so to celebrate turning a ripe but fresh 25 years old today, here are 25 things, both serious and jovial, that I have learned in my 25 years of life:

1. Vulnerability is extremely powerful, for better or for worse.
2. It is very possible to be great friends with people who vehemently disagree with you on important topics.
3. If you squish a grain of white rice between your fingers enough, it feels like you’re making a mini mochi cake.
4. Your brain really is still developing a LOT in your early twenties so chill o u t and remember that you still have a long way to go.
5. The music you listen to on a daily basis really does shape your daily disposition, for better or worse.
6. In the words of Olaf the snowman, “I like warm hugs!”
7. No human person is immune to any certain emotion, sin, circumstance, or bad habit except by the grace of God.
8. The voice message feature on iPhone is very useful for when you have a bunch of things to explain that are too much for just texting but you don’t want to alarm the person by *gasp* CALLING during the daytime.
9. Aligned with popular practice but contrary to what I used to prefer, a hot cup of tea in the silence of the morning is quite peaceful and is now one of my favorite things.
10. I have an issue with procrastinating going to sleep on time because I am not ready to start the next day, which really starts when you go to sleep the night before.
11. Motor learning principles help with SO MUCH in the realm of movement, strengthening, skill learning, rehabilitation, and honestly just life. Specificity, intensity, frequency, feedback, external focus… all of it.
12. It is possible to become significantly stronger and to improve functional motor patterns using one kettlebell for a whole year.
13. The weather really is a hot topic, no pun intended.
14. Communication is one of those things that is mighty scary until you do it enough that it isn’t… but then you have to remember that it’s still scary for some people.
15. Dancing is one of the best gifts I have received; it brings me so much joy.
16. Taylor Swift, by many objective measures, has very well-done music, but I still don’t love her music.
17. No matter what age a person is, there still always exists a sense of “what in the world is going on?” regarding SOMETHING.
18. Talk to someone in person before you assume literally anything about what they are trying to say on social media. And really speak to them with clarity and respect, because it’s easy to keep assuming what they are saying even after the conversation starts.
19. It is possible and rather helpful to ask God for the grace to be humble enough to ask for His help.
20. That “real quick” thing will always take longer than I think it will.
21. By the same token, it is really impressive what you can get done in an 8-hour period of time when you’re really under pressure.
22. Say the motivational quote or cliché that you think everyone’s already heard before, because there is chance that the person who needs to hear it may not have heard it before or may have just never applied it to their life sincerely.
23. Simple does not mean easy.
24. Keeping a clean beach towel in the car is helpful for at least 5 different types of emergencies, not to mention a helpful backrest for ergonomics.
25. God is faithful, He is enough, and He the answer to everything. I honestly could not fight those statements even if I wanted to.

That list was hard to think of, but fun and good to make! Hope you learned a thing or two, no matter what age you are. Would love to learn from you as well! Drop a piece of wisdom you’ve learned in your years thus far 🙂

Have a wonderful week, friends. Thanks for being here. ♥︎