i.e. life advice from someone who probably should not be giving life advice, but here you are anyway.

Back at the start of Freshman year (when everything was lovely and I was in Paris) I made this post, which was a collection of my rules for living—most of which were stolen from my favorite book “Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination.”

I still live by most of those rules, but now that I’m entering my third year of school, I thought I should update my list to include any newfound experience and wisdom.

So here you are:

1. Never panic. Stop, breathe, think.
2. Nothing is ever as bad or as good as it seems.
3. Never change the cut or color of your hair before an important event.
4. It’s ok to be sad sometimes, and it’s ok to lounge about in that sadness for a while.
5. If your friends are constantly making you feel anxious, stressed, or sad, get new friends. It’s not as hard as it seems.
6. Eat free food whenever the opportunity arises.
7. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. (It took me a long time to realize what this phrase means. Sometimes I blame the world for my problems, when it’s really my own fault. I just forgot to examine my own actions.)
8. Use your emotions like fuel. Angry? Get some angry cleaning done. Sad? Channel your Romanticism and write it out. Happy? Walk down the street humming “I’m walking on sunshine.”
9. Pack lightly when traveling.
10. Read hard things for reasons other than to have something smart to say at a party. (If you’re searching for something to say at a party just ask, “Would you rather have the power of flight or invisibility?”)
11. Never regret anything.
12. If you start to regret something then say “But if I had done it that way I might have accidentally started a second cold war, or gotten hit by a bus or something.”

Do you have any life rules you would die without? Write in the comments! I’m always looking for things to add to my list.

XOLily