23 things about being 23 that seem to have generated too many emotions

1. it's here, that dreaded odd number that swims by its lonesome. not old enough to be an adult, but not young enough to see the world through rose coloured glasses, doesn't sound all that fun to say either does it?
2. during lockdown the doorbell going off with deliveries has never been such an exhilarating rush of endorphins, although their longevity is too short lived as the days continue
3. treat yo self (lockdown parks and rec upgrade) is a dangerous game to play with your skin, but your tastebuds will thank you
4. answering the landline as my local Police Department will always make up for those delivery lost endorphins, especially when it's the bank calling
5. long lasting traditions being ceased is a real jolt of realisation, adulthood is hard and sadly friendships rely too much on proximity 
6. yoga with adriene can make all the tightness in your body and in your chest settle, so be glad that you've got humans who keep you accountable for that
7. please remember to insert your correct age into all your giveaway entries, you started your winnings with a $100 gift voucher and the luck is turning around
8. how excited can someone be to tell their therapist that everyone in the family acted in their show roles just as expected, a spiteful conversation with my grandmother, a condescending remark from the aunty and a misplaced and unappreciated joke by the uncle, right on queue
9. when your ex messages you on your birthday (and what used to be your anniversary) don't look into it as any more than a friendly gesture, you would have been upset either way (see #21)
10. you found all your best friends after you left that treacherous monastery of a catholic school of bitches, and for once you can't wait to go out and celebrate with these people
11. next time you wish for rainy weather on your birthday, settle down you just manifested a level 2 cyclone and the coldest august day in 56 years (I know you're an overachiever but even that seems excessive)
12. crying myself to sleep at night makes for a puffy morning - please continue using jade rollers on a daily basis to keep your cheeks from inflating, people will notice 
13. make sure those water bottles on your bedside table stay full and may you continue waking up in the middle of the night to a crisp gulp of ice to keep all the puffy from #21 away 
14. you've crossed into the acceptable age of 'settling down' according to the baby boomers, avoid all questions like the plague
15. all the adults singing about losing didn't need to know what game they were playing to still feel the sting of our loss
16. a loss is not the displacement of people or things, it is the misplaced chatter to avoid the static
17. the housing market is quite honestly the thing of nightmares
18. there's not enough books about accepting that at 23 if you are not exceptional it doesn't mean you are ordinary
19. your phone battery lasts longer as the years go on so let this be a sign to stop playing all the games 
20. talking of the distaste for odd numbers at an even number is cosmic joy that no relationship or shooting star can mimic
21. missing you is now a fixture in a timetable to break up the day but the lingering what ifs make days like this unbearable as the years pass on 
22. all the paragraphs of love and adventure are lost in the pages of bitterness and resentment that undermined the friendship of drunken ink but somehow this sadness is swamped
23. accepting that 24 may feel even worse

until next year

ness