Turning 25: 25 things I Wish I'd Known At 15

In exactly a month's time, I’ll officially be a quarter of a century old. 

Over the years, i've lost track of how many times I wanted life to come with instructions (or a rewind button!) Since neither of these things exist... yet... I thought i'd write a brief list of things I wish i'd known at 15.

1. If you use the internet to self-diagnose, Google will insist you buy a gravestone for your mild        

    headache.

2. Don’t even try to wear high heels – your ankles will fail you.

3. Panic attacks pass. Even when they feel like they won’t, they always end.

4. You shouldn’t have to convince someone to want you in their life. Walk away.

5. Fish is rancid - why on earth do you keep trying sushi?

6. Stop buying so many books and never getting around to reading them!!!

7.  Don’t believe the whole ‘first year doesn’t mean anything’ mantra at uni – use it to get a leg up, go      to academic support, while everyone else is being scraped off the floor at Ocean nightclub.

8. Stay up-to-date with politics. And always vote. Women died so you could vote.

9. Don’t walk by a homeless person without offering to buy them a drink and something to eat.

10. Trust your gut. It’s usually right.

11. Never let someone make you feel like a doormat for being kind.

12. There’s nothing a bubble bath and a new book can’t fix.

13. You’ll feel younger and more naïve at 25, than you did at 15.

14. There is nothing wrong with being tee-total.

15. Write a six monthly bucket list – make sure you complete it.

16. Waxing is expensive and more effort, but it doesn’t cause really painful abscesses.

17.  Quickest way to get a guy to leave a room? Talk about periods (or, my friend Hannah’s method,          afterbirth).

18. Don’t eat at dodgy looking restaurants – you only have to look at food near its sell-by date to be          ill.

19.  Life rarely goes to plan – the more you try to control it, the more wildly it’ll veer off course.

20. Travelling is incredible.

21. Learning how to swear in different languages is fun.

22. If you’re unhappy in life, make radical changes – try new things, make new friends, leave a stale         job…

23. Don’t ever give someone the power to make you question your self-worth.

24. Tell your family and friends you love them every day.

25. You definitely won’t be married or have kids by twenty five. The very thought makes you feel ill!