This is what all the kids are writing these days right? Completely useless lists with click-baity titles? Look at me, I’m BuzzFeed! Anyway I thought I’d gave a go at it:

1. You can be in the middle of reading more than one book at once

I’m a bit of a late comer to this particular one, but my attempts at doing the reading for my literature subjects recently have taught me that you can, pretty reliably, keep several books in mind at once. There are also some books which require some digestion between readings, in particular collections of essay or short stories, which can’t really be read all at once like a novel. So if you’re a bit stuck, maybe put the book down for a while and try another one, you can always go back.

Related: “You don’t have to finish the book if it’s really awful/boring” (but if it’s a ‘classic’ give it a bit more time), and “Staring off into space while reading is totally valid”.

2. Literally everyone is making it up as they go along

I know you can have more experience or more training at something and that helps and everything, but seriously, everyone is just doing the best they can at any given moment and if you asked most people if they knew what they were doing they would say ‘sort of’. This is completely acceptable. Also men are taught to be much more comfortable with pantsing (flying by the seat of your pants) than women, as evidenced by the tendency for women to wait until they feel 100% ready to apply for a better job.

Related: “No-one feels like an adult, until you watch teenagers and feel old”, and “Training and experience allow you to be more convincing at making it up on the spot”.

3. Everybody needs a night in

Some people are more comfortable in the presence of people and groups of people than others. You can call it introversion and extroversion if you like, but whatever personality type you have, a night in, some quiet time, having a nap and a cup of tea, taking yourself on a date, whatever you like to do is valuable. It doesn’t make you weak.

Related: “Nobody really cares if you don’t go to the party” thanks Courtney Barnett.

4. You have to push yourself to do things you don’t really wanna do

Alright, I know just about everyone says this one and it takes a while to sink in but I’m just gonna put this here. One day you’ll be sitting at home trying to work out if you want to do the scary thing, and you’ll be scared of messing it up, or having a bad time of whatever but just do the thing! No real growth can be achieved without leaving the comfort zone.

Related: “Just because it wasn’t fun doesn’t mean you didn’t learn something”, and “Comfort zone, learning zone, panic zone“.

5. Everybody hurts sometimes

Being sad is okay sometimes. I think, as a culture, we’re a little bit obsessed with achieving happiness all the time, usually by buying some product or other, but happiness is only one emotion. There are others and we need to be able to feel them, be present in them, deal with them, and know that all things pass, including sadness, and happiness, and anger and joy and that’s what life is.

Related: I should really watch that film about the emotions, “Feeling sad isn’t the same as being depressed” and “Happiness means nothing unless we have something to compare it to”.

6. Sometimes people are shitheads because they don’t know any better

People are shitheads sometimes. It’s not always about you. Sometimes it’s not even a little bit about you. That’s not to say that you should let them get away with it, and it’s not to say that they’re excused, but all humans out there who have had different experiences to you and those experiences have shaped who they are. If they’ve never experienced being called for being a shithead, they’re probably not going to like it, but if you can do it skillfully, quietly, firmly, and without humiliating them in front of others, they might learn something for next time.

Related: “Sometimes it’s not your job to educate people”, “Appropriate use of a disapproving eyebrow goes a long way”, This is Water.

Right so that went from the concrete to the weirdly philosophical really quickly. So on that note, I’m going to bed. I’m not completely sure what my point was with this but it seemed like a good idea when I started it and then I just kept going till I had six things.

Let’s see if this click-bait title and listicle format gets lots of hits.