For the purpose of this question, the target age range is 20-30. Asking because I feel like I’m wasting my youth.
Do one adventure trip where you are out of your comfort envelope, pushing yourself physically, etc. Don’t make it a booze/party trip.
Get away from tech on a regular basis. Allow yourself to be in your own thoughts occasionally. I think constantly being tied to phones and the internet is killing creativity because we never have those day dreaming moments that lead to inspiration.
Don’t spend huge chunks of your life on video games. They are a fun distraction but at the end of the day is it just bits on some server that could be shut down at any moment. Get off of the dopamine treadmill.
Make a budget. Live by that budget for a month. On the first of the next month, make another budget.
You don’t actually have to do this forever, but long enough to get the basic ebb and flow of money into your head. Planning to put more into x category means having less for y category.
Build up savings, a little at a time. Get used to dipping into that for emergencies.
Disregard if you’re a billionaire or entirely living off the land.
Take care of your body and keep it healthy. You have plenty of time to acquire habits helping that and slowly get rid of those damaging it - use that time before the issue is forced on you.
I tell people to keep an eye on their diet. Once you hit your early 20s that whole teen “I can eat a whole pizza and be fine” is gone. It is incredibly easy to go over your calorie needs in a week and after a year you’ve gained 2-3 lbs or more. Before you know it by 30 or 40 you are 50+ lbs over and obese and now you are struggling to lose it. It creeps up on you.
Wear. Sunscreen.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives,
some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
I haven’t watched that in years! I’d almost forgotten how much young me liked it and now older me sees more wisdom in it.
True. Nothing else in your skincare routine matters if you’re not wearing sunscreen.
Get sunscreen that you don’t mind applying in the morning. I love this one: www.amazon.com/dp/B09DGPRM22
Get sunscreen that you don’t mind applying in the morning.
Does it last all day or were you just suggesting morning because some people forget it until later?
Realistically you should reapply, but in the morning is a good start to the routine
I recommend face moisturizer with SPF for all genders. Put it on every morning. Start young.
If you absolutely hate sunscreen for sensory reasons, check out UPF jackets and other clothing. I live in a place where the UV is 11+ every day in the summer and it works great without being suffocatingly hot. Being able to just throw a jacket on and go outside without worrying about sunburn is pretty great.
Woman in tropical countries cover themselves in very light long sleaved tops. I bought one in Vietnam for my wife.
Wear a wide brimmed hat too. You’ll look jaunty while protecting your head.
What is the material like, does it get hot inside? Is there a brand that you recommend?
The one I have is from REI and made of modal (similar to rayon, made from wood pulp), it’s the only one I’ve used but it feels very nice, soft, and lightweight. I don’t ever feel like I’d be better off not wearing it if I’m in direct sunlight, and sweat dries from it fairly quickly. I’ve been hot while wearing it but not any hotter than I would have been standing in the sun to begin with, you know? I’ve also never had it fail and result in a burn, and my dermatologist was enthusiastic about it when I brought up that I’d been using that instead of sunscreen.
The main reason I went with that brand was because I couldn’t find any non-polyester options anywhere else. There’s nothing wrong with them functionally, I just try to avoid polyester in general.
Oh yeah this one. Plus, wear a hat. My hairstylist found skin cancer on my scalp a year or two ago and now I have a bald spot where they removed it because scalp skin doesn’t have a whole lot of excess to close a wound. So cute. Thankfully, I can hide it, but it pretty much requires me to wear my hair up every day.
Eta: I feel like it should go without saying, but maybe doesn’t, that I was incredibly lucky that it was basal cell, not melanoma. A big scar is one of the best outcomes I could’ve had.
My wife got it on top of her foot from wearing sandals for decades
Why?
Skin cancer is a bitch.
Don’t fry yourself or use tanning beds. Getting your skin scraped down to a weeping ulcer is not fun and even that is much better than what you could get.
Do you mean wear sunscreen every day, or just when needed?
Don’t have kids.
Live alone and single at some point in your life.
It’s shocking how many people never learn to just be themselves, by themselves. And I don’t mean for a month or two. Get to know yourself before you settle in together with somebody else.
In THIS economy?!
That’s a good point. We’re going to have a lot of really stunted people who never got the chance to live alone and learn about themselves because nobody can afford rent anymore.
Enjoy nature before it gets clearcut for money
Volunteer at a place if you can. Spend time in a community completely different to your own. If you have the means, live as a normal person in a country (i.e. not tourist insulated in a community of speakers of your own language) for 3 months (common tourist visa/waiver length), best if done in a country culturally different to your own. If you can’t do that, at least learn a new language and consume media and interact with people (generally free these days).
Travel on the cheap while you’re still willing to put up with it.
Seriously. Save up a couple thousand dollars. Go see stuff.
Make sure you have enough in your emergency fund to get home if you screw it up.
Breathe
Learn to cook!
It’s great fun if you can get into it, it fulfills one of your basic needs in a much more fun and satisfying way, and it can be a good and attractive quality in a future partner and / or fun to do with them.
So many people I know who after college ended up living on crap. At best they only knew how to boil pasta. I got a cookbook on my favorite cuisine at the time and started trying all sorts of recipes when I first lived on my own. I tell my wife “If you can follow instructions you can cook” and she said “I hate following instructions.” lol
Psychedelics.
Travel
Vote!
