Just a few weeks ago, my bonus daughter graduated high school, taking the much-needed steps to start her journey into higher education and adulthood. I pondered for quite a while what to write in her graduation card, wanting to say the one line that I needed to hear at her same age. Naturally, I couldn’t slim it down. Below is the life advice I offered that I believe many adults are still struggling to find:

In no particular order:

1. You are worth the love which you seek, don’t settle for anything less.

2. You are allowed to change your mind as often as you want.

3. You have the power to grow into the human the world needs – don’t give up.

4. Your smile lights up the world, but do not let your boss or anyone else ever make you feel like that’s the only thing you bring to the table.

5. Love is hard, like really hard – but it is so worth it.

6. Follow your heart and your gut. If the two don’t align, go with your gut. Your gut will never steer you wrong.

7. If you aren’t certain about doing something, I mean ANYTHING, just don’t do it.

8. Do not walk down dark alleys even with a group of ten women.

9. There is never a single thing a stranger in the world needs your help with – don’t go to a strange car, house, road, or whatever the creep is trying to get you to do.

10. Live! I mean, dig your heels in and live!

11. Stay up late to have a good time, I promise you this is the only time your body can handle functioning the next day with practically no sleep.

12. Don’t skip out and showing up for your friends but do make sure it doesn’t compromise who you are.

13. Every five years, study your values and your core principles – they change as you grow, and you want to know what they are.

14. If you don’t know what to do, always ask, “Does this align with my values?”

15. You are going to fail. It’s inevitable. It’s going to suck. Cry it out. Scream at the world. Give us a call. But then you get back up and try again.

16. It is not how many times you fail; it’s how often you get back up.

17. Relationships will come and go. Nothing is meant to last forever. It is okay to date around, have some fun, and also to just enjoy one person – that choice is only up to you.

18. Call home every single time you need to talk about heartache – we are here for you.

19. Take the road trips. You’ll learn more about yourself on a long drive than you will with your nose in a book.

20. Read often – but not so much that you have no social life.

21. Find your tribe as quickly as you can.

22. Remember that we outgrow friends just as we outgrow lovers.

23. It’s okay to miss your mom, dad, brothers, and me – you can always come home! We will get you here.

24. Eat! All three meals. Goldfish are not a meal.

25. If someone needs you to throw away a memory from an ex, just don’t be with that person. They are too insecure, and that will trickle into your relationships. Let them go. We all have a past. It’s okay if it sits at the top of the closet.

26. Keep the treasures you collect throughout your journeys. One day, you’ll throw out the silly ones, but sometimes they are fun to go through. You’ll enjoy having them.

27. Print photos.

28. Call home.

29. Never be afraid to ask a question.

30. Google might know everything, but you need to go out and see the world to learn the most.

31. Save your money!

32. But also, make sure you are spending within your means to have fun in life.

33. No one stands at anyone’s funeral and wishes they had worked harder.

34. Be kind to yourself and to the world.

35. Everyone is always having a bad day, if you look at that way -it’s a little easier to forgive the grumpy cashier or moody professor.

36. If you have to ask a man where you stand in a relationship, he is not the guy for you. The right man will never make you question your worth or your value.

37. Every year, do at least one thing that scares the crap out of you.

38. Never stop learning.

39. Be open-minded. The rest of the world does not need to have the same beliefs, opinions, thoughts, processes, political beliefs, culture…so forth – but they also deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. An open mind does not mean it has to be for you; it means that you can accept and love them just as they are.

40. Stand up for the minorities. They need your white privilege in the room. Sometimes your only job in that room is to listen, sometimes it’s going to stand up and fight with them. You’ll figure that out as you go.

41. Say it. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Say all the things, all the time.

42. You only regret the things in life you don’t do – trust me on this! So just do it. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll learn a lot!

43. You either win or you learn – there are no regrets!

44. Get to know yourself so well you can ask for help when someone wants to show up for you.

45. Sit in the muck with other people when they need you. That can sound a lot like silence; you don’t always need to have a solution to support someone through it.

46. Give yourself grace to fall flat on your ass.

47. Don’t get pets until you are settled into a career with predictability and have a yearlong lease (at min) signed.

48. Come home for the holidays, but don’t be afraid to let us know you have other plans. One day, it’s going to happen, and it’s going to be okay.

49. Keep an open heart; you never know what you’ll learn from a random coffee shop conversation.

50. Do not let your parents or anyone else tell you what your future needs to look like. If they aren’t paying your bills (this goes for anyone), their opinions don’t matter! Of course, ask for advice, but at the end of the day, THIS IS YOUR LIFE…GO LIVE IT.

This was written by our contributing writer, Tiffani Bourriague.