so much truth it hurts

surreality51:

Things people don’t tell you when you’re young:

Nobody gives a shit about your SAT scores.
Nobody. The only thing SAT scores are good for is helping you clear that
minimum-score bar to get into a brand-name college.

High school sucks. I don’t know why all the
movies and TV shows pretend that it’s the best time of your life. The good news
is that you’ll never see 95% of your classmates ever again.

Life doesn’t get easier, it only gets harder.
More challenges will come your way, bigger challenges, sometimes in packs
because they’re jerks. Luckily your skills and experience will grow too, hopefully
in proportion to meet those challenges. It will never be easy, but you can do
it.

Love isn’t big, showy gestures like flowers and
chocolates and romantic dinners. It’s not wild sex or jet setting or getting
drunk together. Love is in the boring, daily grind of life—getting your ass off
the couch because you promised you’d take care of that chore, paying attention even
though you just want to sleep because what your partner is saying is important
to you, sitting quietly on the couch together when you’re exhausted because you
want to press your leg against his. It’s being there for each other, day in and
day out, no matter what. It’s a marathon, not a race.

You have to love yourself before you can love
someone else. Loving yourself and forgiving yourself for your shortcomings will
be one of the hardest things you will ever do.

“You can be anything you want to be” is
bullshit. Your 20s is about negotiating between who you think you are and who
you want to be; between what you are able to do and what you want to do.
Sometimes you have to adjust your dreams. This is one of the hardest parts of
growing up. It doesn’t mean you won’t be happy. It just means that what you
think happiness means when you’re 20 might be different from what you think
happiness means when you’re 30.

Time is your most valuable resource. You don’t
realize how much you have of it until it’s gone. Every day you waste at a job
you hate is time you don’t get back. Every day you spend in an unhappy
relationship is time you don’t get back. Don’t waste your time. Get moving.

Your hard skills will get your hired, or at
least an initial interview. Your soft skills will get you promoted.

Going from “I don’t give a fuck about money, I
just want to do what I love” to realizing that money=freedom does not mean you’re
selling out. It just means you’ve realized how the game is played.

Travel while you’re young. Just do it.
Especially before you have kids.

Raising kids is fucking hard and exhausting. You
will never be this tired in your entire life. That time you pulled 3
all-nighters in a row to study for your finals? Pffffft.