The Big 2-0

I don't remember my first birthday. I don't think anyone does. So you can imagine how my 20th Birthday felt this Monday. If you imagined it felt transcendent and a leap out of teenage-hood and into adulthood, you were way off. My 20th felt like any other day, minus being treated like a king at home, but just because the day wasn't as significant as it's supposed to be doesn't mean the year leading up to this day was insignificant. Because it wasn't. I can honestly say that in the past year, I've grown more intellectually and matured more than any other year of my life.

This growth came with experiences and change. The change was moving out of my house to go to college and "be on my own" for the first time in my life. Sure, I wasn't financially on my own but I was on my own in about every other category. So I figured I'd make a list (I love lists) of things I had to do/learn to do while on my own. Hope I didn't forget anything.

• I had to wake myself up for class: This was a learning process, I used the snooze option on my phone alarm a world record amount first semester. Needless to say that I missed a few classes. But I figured out a system to wake myself up. I started to put my phone far enough away from my bed that I can't reach it but close enough so that I can hear it. This scheme has worked well so far, beside the occasional 'wake up, grab phone, run back to bed!'. 
• I had to learn to study: For real! I knew how to "review" from high school, but never truly knew how to study until my first college exam, more specifically after my first exam. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to school so bombing a test really hit me hard. But I made adjustments, changed my time maintenance, and learned how to be successful in college. 
• I had to learn to manage my time: Napping all day doesn't work. Playing Xbox all day doesn't work. Watching Netflix everyday doesn't work. Doing all of these things when you have time and have taken care of other more important issues (papers, studying, etc.) does work. This was a huge key in having success in school. 
• I had to learn to live with someone else: I forgot what it was like to have to share a living space with someone else, let alone a 20 square foot room. But I'm a pretty easy going person to be around and got lucky enough to get a pretty good roommate so this was not a hard area to change. 
• I had to learn to keep in shape: I don't care who you are, everyone stresses and everyone has a different approach to dealing with their stress. Some drink, some run, some lift, some smoke, some read, some just bottle it inside but everyone deals with it somehow. How you deal with this stress determines how healthy you'll be. I tried a multitude of things to deal with stress but the best stress reliever I found was working out. It felt good after a long day of class or working for a class to go sweat and get everything off your mind. 
• I had to learn how important family really is: Not being able to see my parents everyday was a bit weird to me at first and there is only so much a phone call can do. You can catch up and talk about what has been going on in their lives but there is just something different about seeing their faces. So I try to take advantage of anytime I get with my family, one of the best things I have ever done. 

I'm sure I missed some things I missed but I got a whole year to gather my thoughts for next year's birthday wrap-up. P.S. Only 364 more days until my 21st birthday! I'm thinking Vegas trip, who's coming with me?