18 things you need to do... to grow up!

I read two posts. One in HT brunch yesterday and one today on http://thoughtcatalog.com about advice on growing up. So here I am throwing in some of my own!

1. Live alone, on a restricted budget. Don't let your parents pay every penny cause they can afford to, learn to take up odd jobs, it will teach you humility as well as learning to live and make the most of small things. 
2. Take responsibility of your actions and decisions. Learn from your mistakes. Build on your success. If it has turned out to be a mistake, seek help, rectify it. If you are unable to... don't run away, face the consequences. Try not to let it affect someone else who was not at fault. 
3. Let go of your relationships, if they don't make you happy, it is not worth all the effort of pining and being miserable. 
4. Throw out junk. If your favourite pair of jeans don't fit you anymore, throw it out. When you are the same size again, you will have a chance to buy new ones... Eliminate things if you haven't used them for over 2 years. Applies to gifts from exes and exes that make you miserable as well. 
5. Lose the friend who does nothing but make you feel unhappy about yourself. You cannot chose parents, or bosses... But friends are for you to choose. If a friend doesn't value or respect you, no use trying to keep that friendship alive. 
6. Learn to live with yourself. You cannot keep asking for your friends to give you time. Everyone has a life, a job, relationships. You are not the center of the universe. Read, write, listen to music, take a walk, take dancing classes... But for yourself, by yourself. 
7. Pamper just yourself occasionally. You don't need friends/ bffs to go shopping with you... Or go to a spa... Or have a cozy lie-in in your duvet on a warm winter morning. 
8. Learn how to cook and clean up after yourself. Its important. 
9. Stop drinking and driving. No matter how sober you think you are, you have no right to be a threat to anyone else's life, let alone yours. 
10. Say NO. Just learn it. You don't need to please everybody all the time. 
11. There is always going to be someone in your life who smugly tells you that what you are doing is completely wrong. Whether you have high paid corporate job, or whether it is a low paying artistic job you love. Whether you live in the suburbs, or in the heart of the city. Whether even you keep your fridge stocked up with cola or milk. If you know what you are doing - do it. Take advice. Don't let them smite you all the time. You don't need judgments. 
12. Speak up when you have to. Its such a shame that people assume things and let everything go out of hand, instead of just speaking up and getting it over with. 
13. Friends are not forever. Friends leave. They get jobs, get married, move on to another city. And some of them may not even care to leave you behind. It is absolutely OK... Just be happy for them. and move on yourself. There will always be more friends to make along the way. 
14. Stop being the baby in your relationships. It gets tiresome after a while. Friends and your partner wont keep taking care of every problem you face, and every upset you have. Nor should you expect them to pamper you all the time. They are not your punching bag after every hard day. Learn how to fend for yourself. Learn how to lend a shoulder too. 
15. LISTEN. Sometimes people are trying to tell you things, maybe good advice, a problem they want to share. Maybe even for advice they need. Just listen to them at times. 
16. Stop throwing tantrums. So, your best friend did not get you the gift you wanted from her visit in Hong-Kong. So, your boss did not coo in your ears and give you a raise this time. And your mother screamed for not living the way her best friends daughter does. Things are not going to always go your way. Big F**king Deal. Why the name calling? Learn to battle your problems instead of always crying hoarse over life not being the way you want. Head on. Think of solutions, and way outs. Think of alternatives that can help. Ask for advice... Not attention!! 
17. Stop breaking up with your GF/BF because of something like a unanswered phone call. and then posting it all over FB. 786 of your friends and acquaintances don't need to know about your love life. 
18. You will gain weight/lose weight and all other things when you reach the fag side of 20s. You would probably not even be able to stay up all night and look fresh a daisy with that hangover. Live with it. And change your lifestyle, this was bound to happen - sooner than later.