Recently, I stumbled upon an article entitled “25 Things I Know Now That I’m 25“. As a 25-year-old myself, I appreciate Emma’s ability to put words to thoughts and feelings I myself have had since hitting the quarter century mark. Here are a few that stood out to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article in the comments.

“2. The fear of missing out is worse than missing out. It’s impossible to do everything and see everyone and be everywhere at once, so there’s no point in making yourself crazy over it. And once you throw the FOMO out the window and stop regretting the things you aren’t doing, you can enjoy the ones you are a whole lot more.”

In a world where every fun time had by anyone ever is documented in pixelated detail on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, <cough> blogs <cough>, Pinterest, etc., it is easy to get wrapped up in the things you aren’t doing (or don’t have) and forget to get out there and live. I can’t even tell you the number of hours I’ve spent looking at other people’s memories instead of making my own. Once I faced the cold, hard truth, i.e. that reading about Elin Kling’s midsummer party will not cause my own midsummer party to miraculously materialize on the front porch, I made an effort to stop the compulsive feed checking and experience life in the moment. Who needs the pins when you can have the memories?

“8. You can stop judging yourself. Your body, your job and your love life might not be “perfect” — in fact, it’s a guarantee that they’re not. But at a certain point you just have to realize that no one gives a sh*t nearly as much as you do about your “flaws.” So take Nora Ephron’s advice: put on that bikini and rock it the whole decade long. You’ll thank yourself later.”

No one cares if I’ve gained five pounds. No one cares if my house isn’t spotless at all times. No one cares if I don’t have my dream job at age 25. So why beat myself up over it? Focus on the things that matter and let the little things go. “You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way.” – Jennifer J. Freeman

“21. Doing things just for the story can be great. You’ll probably end up getting a lot more than an anecdote out of the experience — and even if you don’t, you’ll enjoy retelling said story for years to come. (Just don’t seduce your boss. Thanks for that lesson, Lena Dunham.) So go on that potentially (probably) disastrous date, pull a non-school-related all-nighter and make out with that D-List celebrity. Glamour‘s famous “30 Before 30″ list says that you should have a past “juicy enough” to enjoy looking back on. So get cracking.”

Sometimes I feel like I’m 25 going on 35… You’re only young once. Time to make a few mistakes.

“23. It’s all right to change your mind about big things. This includes your job, your city and your life partner. Now’s the time. Your life doesn’t have to look the way you imagined it would at 18. It turns out, things rarely work out exactly the way you once thought you wanted them to anyway — and that’s usually a very good thing.”

It’s pretty scary to realize that you’ve changed your mind about something “big”, but life is too short to ignore it. The challenge is to find the balance between doing what is smart and doing what will make you happy. Risk and reward if you will. Recognizing that what you do (or don’t do) in your twenties can significantly impact the rest of your life and acting accordingly.