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21 Things I Learned Before Turning 21

Gabi Robledo, coach, athlete, 21st birthday

Journal Date: January 12, 2022 – I just got back from a 5 day ski road in North & West Idaho. It was absolutely incredible and was also full of the craziest, iciest road conditions I’d ever seen in my life…

We started down skiing Brundage at McCall, Idaho then went up to Sandpoint to ski Schweitzer Mountain.

The only bummer was the fact that we were planning to ski on my birthday but a random rainstorm came through on Wednesday and soaked the mountain and iced everything up.

So instead we spent my birthday chilling at our hotel (which mostly meant soaking in the hot tub), going window shopping, anddd grabbing drinks because it was my 21st birthday.

Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just recently, I want to personally thank you for supporting me on my journey despite my age.

Over the last 7 years there have plenty of people who say I’m too young to do what I do for work. People who say what I should be doing at my age. People say I should just conform and follow the crowd.

But I’ve never believed in the usual life contracts…We sign invisible contracts with ourselves and with others based off of what we think we’re supposed to do at a certain age.

I burned those contracts a long time ago and chose to do everything I could to be the person I always wanted to be.

I’ve always believed in the vision I had of my future self and wouldn’t compromise on that to achieve present acceptance.

I thought 21 on the 12th was a cool numerology reflection number…

When I saw the number 21 | 12 (my birthdate) and noticed it was, interestingly, a reflection number. I decided to “reflect” and write out the top 21 lessons I learned before 21.

You can see the instagram post here or read on below.

I could go on for so long with these lessons but I tried to narrow it down into the most important ones imo.

Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below!

Here are the top things I learned before turning 21:

1. It’s never too late to be who you’ve always wanted to be. But if you keep putting it off, it will be.

2. Learning is important. But it’s FAR more important to unlearn. It is a long, hard road. your beliefs.

3. 99 percent of the time, it’s you who creates your own suffering.

4. No one is going to believe in you as much as you want or need. So believe in yourself.

5. Only you get to decide what’s best for you. Stop abiding by the made up contracts of “shoulds” and “needs” and start choosing the rules you want to live your life by (just don’t project those rules onto others)

6. Other people’s opinions of you are purely a reflection of themselves. Likewise, if people anger you or hurt, that tells you what you need to heal in yourself.

7. Eat ridiculously well and treat yourself like a LEGEND. But your emotions affect your health equally as much as the food you put into your body. Heal.

8. Codependency isn’t love.

9. Losing friends is sad. But trying to be someone you’re not is sadder. Part ways as needed.

10. Life is hard. But you will never be handed something you’re not strong enough to handle.

11. Everyone is hurt and traumatized. Everyone. Do your best to treat them with kindness.

12. It’s true that everything happens for a reason & everyone who has ever come into your life was there to teach you something.

13. You can achieve anything with enough work ethic. But you don’t need to waste your whole life working.

14. STOP COMPARING YOURSELF! Period.

15. Everything in life is choice. There’s no such thing as a perfect option.

16. Your capacity to experience positive emotions directly correlates to how deeply you’ve allowed yourself to be sad & pissed-the-f**k-off about the past.

17. You’re never going to stop noticing what everyone thinks of you. But you can and will stop caring.

18. There will be people who don’t really want to see you succeed. But it’s only because it reminds them of dreams they gave up on.

19. The world is an illusion. But people will only wake up when they’re ready to see the truth.

20. Creativity is your secret sauce. Everyone has it. But only few people use it.

21. You attract the exact match for the energy you put out…but what you receive is a reflection of what you believe you deserve.

Nama-stay stoked,

Gabi Robledo Signature

Gabi Robledo

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