Things You Have to Do Before You Turn 21

By Sam

I’d say the most exciting birthday of a person’s life is their 21st. Judge me all you want, but come on, it’s a day we all look (or looked) forward to! This is a day undergrads definitely count down to, a day we plan years in advance (Vegas, anyone?), but we seem to forget that being under 21 means we’re pretty much still children. I mean yeah, you can be outrageous at 22, 23, 24, but the prime years for being totally out of control are definitely those “21 and under” years.

This got me thinking. I still have a bit of time to live it up, so what do I want to “accomplish” before I reach that legal-but-supposed-to-be-more-mature age of 21? Here are my top 5.

1.  Go skinny dipping

This is so fun, so free, and never completely appropriate, but hey, we’re young. You gotta live a little.

2. Go to a huuuuge music festival

You tend to wear very little clothing and rage all day, but really, what can be better than that? #YOLO.

3.  Take a road trip

Choose anywhere you want to go, grab a bunch of friends, some music, and make a trip of it! It’ll be the experience of a life-time.

4. Learn to drive a stick-shift

This is in my to-do list, but really only because I want to drive my boyfriend’s car, and of course, he HAS to drive a stick-shift.

5. Write a letter to your future self

I just think this would be so cool, being able to read and remember your dreams, aspirations, goals from the past, being able to see where you wanted to go and comparing it to where you are now. Embarking down memory lane can be really interesting and eye-opening.

Want to see what 21 things Gurl thinks you should do before you turn 21?

[Lead image via Patrizia Tilly/Shutterstock]