21 THINGS YOU SHOULD START DOING WHEN YOU'RE 21

FIRST THINGS FIRST

1. Decide which friends are here to stay. Do you really need to stay on especially good terms with your high school volleyball team captain?

2. Get some basic home-maintenance skills. Assembling furniture without screwing a shelf on the wrong way around is so satisfying it might push you toward enlightenment.

3. Get to know your parents. Chances are they're way cooler than you think.

4. Never let your phone die. Being unreliable is not "mysterious" or "enigmatic", it's annoying. Get another charger, or treat yourself to a battery pack.

 YOU'RE GROWN NOW

5. Learn something new. Picking up a new hobby and doing it on your own terms, without being lectured to from a podium.

6. Do the things you've always wanted to do. Just book that flight.

7. Be the coolest uncle or auntie possible. The goal is to make the kid like you more than they like their actual parents, then breeze your way home as soon as they start crying.

8. Learn to cook at least one decent meal. Here's how it works: invite friends to your house, open a bottle of wine, cook really flamboyantly in front of them, make, like, a pie or a tagine or guacamole-or an apple crumble

 DON'T BE A ROTTER

9. Save animals or something. Cocaine destroys large swathes of the rainforest. Go, volunteer. Donate. You've spent 21 years being a selfish idiot; treat yourself to a new type of happiness that can only be attained through being good.

10. Next time someone asks for a bit of change and you have a bit of change, just give them that change.

11. Learn how to live with another human. Learn to cooperate with them. Try to share things with others. Try to keep the things clean.

12. Look after your body. You know how you're tired all the time? There are vitamins that can help that.

13. Do something with your weekends. Try to explore new things and something adventurous.

 TREAT YOURSELF

14. Try to indulge in politics. Give your reviews and make your own statements.

15. Get your finances together. A good starting point is actually checking your bank statements.

16. Start buying nicer things. If being trendy and buying cheap clothes makes you happy, do you. But slowly building a wardrobe that'll last for years is so much more satisfying.

17. Brunch. You're going to get really into brunch. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 FINALLY

18. Stop forgetting to call your grandparents. They won't be around forever.

19. Seriously stop caring about what other people think. Who would care if someone you barely know or don't even like is judging you?

20. Also, stop comparing yourself to other people.

21. Invest in your people. Start giving gifts to people you love, just cuz.