22 things I need to stop doing

Photo by Hans Vivek

A week ago I turned 22, but in order to solidify my new age, I must write about it. A lot of people do the "22, 25, 30, etc. things I've learned" posts to celebrate their birthdays, but honestly, I feel too young for that.  Sure, I definitely learned a lot while living 8 months abroad, but I also realize I still have a lot of learning left to do. I need to let my lessons sit and marinate for awhile before I put them in a definitive list for the entire internet to see. (Lol "entire internet", I sure do think highly of myself.)

So here are 22 things I need to STOP doing in order to become a full-fledged adult. It's a lot easier to point out my bad habits than to correct them, but this post is at least one step in the right direction.

1. Caring about what other people think.
2. Texting guys I don't actually care about just because I'm bored. 
3. Eating a whole ice cream carton in one sitting. 
4. Using "hey I walk a lot!" as an excuse not to exercise. 
5. Reading too many books at once. Either finish the dang book or decide not to finish it and give it to someone who will actually read it. 
6. Eating canned soup for dinner when I have ingredients for a quick and easy meal in the pantry. 
7. Hate-reading someone's blog.
8. Hate-scrolling through someone's Instagram. (Don't do these things! They're not good for you!)
9. Using "my hair is dirty" as an excuse to not go out. Just wash your hair! It's not that hard!
10. Letting my tank get dangerously empty before I refill it. 
11. Complaining about how bored I am while also not reaching out to anyone. 
12. Extensively plan trips that I have no hope of taking anytime soon. It's a waste of time to plan that much detail, Victoria. 
13. Talking myself out of things just because I get nervous. 
14. Worry over why someone doesn't like me. It literally does not matter. 
15. Starting a language on Duolingo and doing too much at once then burning out and quitting.
16. Getting a caramel macchiato at Dunkin Donuts when I have a PERFECTLY GOOD Keurig and percolator at home. 
17. Not journaling because I'm "too tired" or "nothing happened that today". Something happens everyday girl!!! Write about it!!!
18. Chugging Dr. Pepper like type II diabetes doesn't run in the family. 
19. Hitting snooze too many times.
20. Thinking I will one day actually eat breakfast at the appropriate breakfast time. 
21. Drinking coffee when I KNOW it'll give me the runs. 
22. Pretending I ever think about anything besides One Direction and the five boys' individual careers. 

Happy birthday to me! Cheers! 

Consume This #4

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa

Consume This is my monthly curated list of interesting links to things for you to read, watch, and listen.  If you come across something you think I’ll like, tweet at me.

R  E  A  D  I  N  G

the emotional labor of female travel bloggers

another great piece on emotional labor, on a more general scale

how to stop being a "chill girl" and be yourself

thoughts on bloggers selling out and faking lifestyles 

the personal essay isn't dead. it's just no longer white. 

Ideal Bookshelf shop, which makes cute prints with popular books in specific genres.  I want the Southern Lit, Paris, Travel, Feminism, and Writing. 

Shonda Rhimes has started a new women-focused website and I'm excited to see how it develops.

Kelsey J Barnes writes about online friendship in her latest newsletter: my friends

the paranoid girls of tumblr

The Problem with Rupi Kaur's Poetry: I don't really agree with it but it offers some good points

I cried over this because Geraldine is such a great writer: I Have Written About Currywurst, My Love

the first time I left home (and fell in love)

the new midlife crisis (aka we need to talk about women and their problems more but what else is new)

Philippa Gregory is at it again uncovering women hidden from history!!!

W A T C H I N G  &  L I S T E N I N G

Pop Culture Detective is a great YouTube channel that analyzes masculinity and misogyny in popular movies and TV shows. They have two episodes out on the Big Bang Theory and it's great.

An Ode to Broken Spines (poetry video about loving books) 

Consume This #3

Photo by Melinda Pack on Unsplash

Consume This is my monthly curated list of interesting links of things for you to read, watch, and listen.  If you come across something you think I’ll like, tweet at me.

cherish your chicken nuggets

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We don't carry spicy chicken nuggets anymore."
Sirens blare. A small child screams in the background. Glass shatters somewhere.
No more chicken nuggets? Did I hear the scratchy drive-through voice correctly? How can there be no spicy chicken nuggets?
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I lean out the window of my car, thinking that if I get closer to the speaker I could hear her better, hear her different.
"We don't carry spicy chicken nuggets anymore, ma'am."
I sit back in my seat. Glass shatters again. "Oh...ok.  Can I just have regular nuggets then?"
"Of course you can. Is that all for your order?"
Yes. I guess so. It has to be. The spicy chicken nuggets are gone. Out of all the things to happen while I'm away, why this? What is happening to my country?

---

I wish I had known the last time I ate Wendy's (January 1st, 2017), what I know now. About to leave for Europe for 8 months, I could never imagine returning to an America without spicy chicken nuggets.
I was so naïve.
We all know the usual advice about living in the moment. Hang out with your grandparents. Tell your dad you love him. Apologize to your friend. But more importantly, cherish every single chicken nugget that you eat. Who knows if that nugget will be your last nugget.

Photo by Simeon Muller on Unsplash. Editing by me.

R.I.P. Wendy's Spicy Chicken Nuggets. I'll miss all the good times we shared.

*I googled and March 2nd, 2017 is the actual date the nuggets disappeared. No one had the heart to tell me, out of fear it would spoil my time in Scotland.

counting change

I press the pennies into my plastic money counting jar, watching the total slowly go up on its blinking digital face.

The pad of my index finger hurts and is already marked with black from all of the dirty coins.  $24.71 already accounted for, with a pile of circular metal still staring at me from the dining room table.

You see, barely 2 weeks ago I got back from an 8 month trip, but I'm ready to leave again.  In exactly 336 days, (11 months and 2 days to be exact), I'll be done with all responsibilities that tie me to America.

I have 336 days to save every single penny that I have.

Whatever the total comes to in my change jar, I know it won't be much.  Chump change.  Barely anything in the grand scheme of things.

All of the change I have to my name, the change I've been saving for years, will probably only afford me 3 nights in a hostel in central Europe.  Or 2 long bus rides.  Or 1.5 days worth of my usual daily budget.  It's not much at all, but that's 1.5 days that I wouldn't be able to fund if I didn't obsessively collect every single penny.  I'm sure those 1.5 days will be worth it, and I won't even remember the sore pad of my index finger when I'm living them.

Cheers to when I can travel for an extended period of time again, to the next 336 days and some change.