Reddit, what's the best advice you can give someone in their mid 20's right now?

Relationships- Don’t ever buy into having a relationship to “complete you”, or “make you whole”. Fuck that. You should be 100% whole and complete before you ever think about settling down. A life partner should accent your life, and make it better, and vice versa. It should be more of a sharing and intertwining of two lives. Your lives should complement each other. Make damn sure you find someone who is not looking to fix, or complete their life, or yours. Find someone who’s got their shit together, and is happy with themselves. Trust me codependent relationships are just a never-ending loop of insecurity, mistrust, fear, and jealousy. Avoid that. You’ve heard that saying, “You can’t truly love someone else until you love yourself”. It’s partially true…You really can love someone else in that instance, but it is painful, avoidable, and in no way pure. Have fun while you are young. Date, do your thing, there is plenty of time for adult type serious crap later. It is okay to be young now. Don’t ever feel pressured to hurry up to the norm. Fuck that, you get to decide what the norm is. Society- Don’t worry about what people think of you, and your personal decisions. It’s not only okay to be an individual, but it is as life goes on, you will find that it is something that is very much respected. Why? Because it takes balls to be different and people recognize that. Being different and having confidence in one’s self, and the whole courage to be different thing, is very attractive. Financial-Really, money doesn’t buy anything thing that is truly important. But being comfortable and not having financial worries is important and pretty darn nice. Money is a huge stress in many peoples’ lives and it would be fantastic not to have to worry about this one. In the grand scheme of things I don’t think it’s that hard to be monetarily comfortable. Bottom line, it’s all about having dreams, and goals, and being willing to make the sacrifices to make those dreams and goals a reality. Sacrifice being the key word here. You have to have a goal in mind and the will to make those short term sacrifices to achieve it. Sacrifices such as education, time, investments, working for nothing to gain experience, research, taking risks, studying, and making yourself tired and uncomfortable…Just know that all these sacrifices are short term. A lot of people see the life that is right in front of them and get caught up living it rather than seeing the future big picture. Focus, and pay attention to the long term future results, rather than the small steps and sacrifices that you have to make in the present. Try not to ever borrow money from anyone, but if you must, make sure you pay them back at the time you specified. This includes parents too. When you get credit cards and bank accounts, be diligent about your record keeping. Pay credit cards back on time and try not to ever leave a balance. Credit card companies will offer you more money than you are capable of paying back. And it is very tempting to accept their offers and spend. Don’t ever over extend yourself and get in a hole. It is so freaking hard, if not impossible, to dig yourself back out. Keep track of your credit scores, and don’t play around. I think this is one of the main reasons that people work jobs that they hate, while they are barely making it paycheck to paycheck. They are trapped in a cycle of overwhelming debt. Flip side to this…When you have good credit, you can use it as a tool to buy things that are investments. Make money and credit work for you, not the other way around. Having a savings account prevents you from getting in the never ending loop having to borrow money whenever an emergency comes up, and they will. Acquaintances-Never be mean to people. It serves no purpose except to degrade yourself. You will meet many different people from all walks of life, addicts, business owners, the mentally ill, poor, homeless, rich, ignorant, troubled, educated, beautiful, crazy, intelligent, and different. Remember that you are no better, and no worse, than any of them, so never treat anyone as such. People grow up in different circumstances, with different backgrounds, educations, and realities of the choices that they have made. You can learn something from all of them. Everyone on this planet has something that they can teach you, and you in turn might have something that you could provide, help or benefit them. Never be afraid to learn something from someone else’s experience, even if it is what to avoid. Be aware though that some people are toxic and will try to use you financially or mentally. You should try to separate yourself from them. Learn from the experience, but don’t get sucked into their issues. Friends- Friends should be treasured. You are not responsible for them though... Always try to help if you think you can, but don’t be afraid to distance yourself if you see that the friendship has turned toxic towards you. Do not ever hold grudges against anyone. Grudges are really just a form of misplaced revenge and anger that really only stand to poison you. Appreciate every friendship right now; be the best friend that you can be, your true lifelong friends will weed themselves out in the long run. These lifelong friends really are one of the best things about life, never take them for granted. You are very lucky just to gain a handful in all the years you live. Self Esteem-Look…to be honest with you, how you feel in your heart of hearts about yourself, affects every aspect of your life. Without a true and genuine love for yourself, you open yourself up to the possibility to mess up many things. Motivation, Will to succeed, How others see you, How others treat you, Relationships, Sanity, Your prosperity, Ability to fight off temptations, Ability to remain true to your true self, Your Honesty, Your fucking everything. This is an important thing that does in fact infiltrate EVERY aspect of your life. Trust me this is a big one. Low self-esteem is something that is avoidable, and it is paramount that you get this one right first, before you tackle any of the other things. Self-esteem is the foundation and ground work for everything else. Without it, life is not only difficult, but next to impossible. Good news though, if you feel like this, you can dig yourself out. This is both preventable and fixable if this issue does happen to creep up. If you ever feel down about yourself, SAY SOMETHING! Talk to your friends, or parents, or those people in your life that you know give a shit. Trust me; I know the feeling of not wanting to bother people with my “issues”. There are people that care, and can help with depression and self esteem issues. You not only owe it to yourself, but to the people that care about you to at least give them a chance to try and help you. This self esteem thing is a bitch, because it has the possibility to be a life stopper. Make it a point to do things that make you proud of yourself. **, this is a very big deal, so do not take this issue lightly. You really have to like the person that you see in the mirror every day. Make pride for yourself a routine. I cannot stress this enough, there is nothing worse in life than living with the thoughts of guilt, shame, or the knowledge that you could have done better. It’s okay if you fail at things in life, just as long as you know that you tried as hard as you could. Never be afraid of failure, or rejection. Courage is built from small successes. Put yourself out there, and take chances. If you fuck up, at least you know you tried your best, and try to learn from your mistakes. What I have learned about self esteem is if you want to have it, you have to do esteem able things. Do things that make you proud of yourself. Remember, fuck what other people think, this is about what makes you proud of you. Generosity-The most valuable gift that you can ever give anyone is your time. Be as generous as you can with your time, without losing sight of your own personal goals. They have to come first. Your responsibilities to yourself and your family and your dreams always have to come first. You will get the hang of where to draw that line as you get older. Always do as much as you can to help someone else, but don’t ever feel guilty that you couldn’t do more. I personally don’t believe that self preservation is selfish. Guilt is a waste of time, pointless, and a detriment to your well being. If you are being the best “*” that you know you can be, and are proud of yourself, that is your truest responsibility, and you have nothing to feel guilty about. Bottom line, give as much as you can to help anyone in need, but don’t forget about helping you too…If you prosper i life, you don’t pigeon hole yourself into helping just one person, you live to help many, many, more.

/r/AskReddit Thread