27 Things I Learned At 27: Navigating Transitions of Adulthood in 2021

I just turned 27 last week, and I thought I’d do this little writing exercise for myself, partly as a self-reflection, and also just to write something down.

Generic sunrise

People nowadays usually make Tiktoks or Youtube videos for this sort of thing, but I’m camera shy, and I still like writing very much.

These are things I learned from 27 years of existence, and hopefully some things I learned will resonate with you!

1. Eating healthy and sleeping well is the best thing you can do for yourself.
2. Who you are at 27 is not the same person you are at 21.
3. You don’t need any “big issues” to see a therapist or seek mental help. Think of it like seeing the dentist, you don’t just go to the dentist every time you lose a tooth, but the yearly maintenance helps keeps things in order.
4. Making a playlist for each year is a great way to document your life and keep tabs on good music.
5. Design your life to make good habits easier to acquire.
6. Spending at least 15 minutes everyday doing something related to a goal you want to achieve will do more for you that doing something one-time big time.
7. With the above-mentioned being said, don’t beat yourself up if you skip a few days of not doing that thing. Acquiring a habit is never as smooth as it should be, and takes time and repetition.
8. Have a go-to meal that you order when you can’t make up your mind.
9. If you’re trying to figure out a fashion style, build your wardrobe from neutral colours first, then transition from there.
10. Ask people more questions. You learn a lot of things you didn’t know, and you make people feel special.
11. Just because a relationship ended, doesn’t mean it’s a failure.
12. Youtube is still the best way to find cool new music (Sorry Spotify Discover).
13. How your parents lived their lives doesn’t have to be the way you live yours.
14. Who your boss is going to be is possibly the biggest factor that will determine how happy you are at work, so evaluate well.
15. It takes effort to maintain friendships. Things don’t just fall into place, you actually need to invest your time to keep great people in your life.
16. Socio-economic factors affect how people see, think, feel, and decide. In short- be more empathetic to marginalised and lower-income people. Privilege allows you the luxury of making good decisions.
17. Language matters. Choice of words matter. Tone matters. Learn how to adjust these to the situation.
18. Invest in a good toilet seat. Seat warmers + good bidet make a world of difference to your pooping experience.
19. Learn to walk away from situations and people gracefully.
20. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. People never forget them. Make promises sparingly and with extreme prejudice.
21. You will probably suck when you start at something. Learn to be alright with sucking, it gets better.
22. Be open to criticism and feedback, but also learn how to take it with a grain of salt. Likewise, for compliments.
23. Learn to make an Onigiri. It’s cheap, fast, versatile, and yummy.
24. Your political beliefs will mostly likely reflect your personality, life experiences, and view of the world. Learn to discern and question why a particular belief resonates with you.
25. Learn to change your beliefs if proven wrong.
26. It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose. That’s life.
27. With every action you take, you can change the world. We only have one life, we only have one planet, and unfortunately things aren’t looking very cash-money right now, especially with COVID-19, the climate crisis, and inequality. But there is a sliver of a possibility, and a chance to make the world a better place than when we were born into it.