Currently, I am learning something I have never considered before. For the majority of my life, I was barely enjoying life. In fact, I always looked forward to the future. The future is a very exciting thing, but means nothing if you don’t enjoy the present. You see, throughout my entire adolescence, I literally wanted life to pass me by. I was only existing, and I wasn’t living too much. Considering the fact that my childhood literally slipped away from me, that definitely is not the best way to live. Ever since I transferred to Brenau, I realized that existing was no longer good enough. I can’t just exist. I have to live. Here are some ways to begin living life to its fullest:

1. Don't Hold Back

There is no reason why you should refrain from being who you really are to anyone. If you are a wild and outspoken person, then always be wild and outspoken! Nobody should ever make you feel like you need to be anybody less than your own perfect personality. If you do encounter people like this, they aren’t worth your time. Besides, you should be yourself anyway! I have always liked to say that there is no better you than yourself.

2. Work Hard, But Don't Forget to Have Fun

I completely understand the need to work hard. I mean, I am a music education major. That is basically a double major in itself. I perform my results in front of people, so I must work hard. In the midst of all of that, it is important to relax and have fun. Go spend several hours studying, but go reward yourself by having a movie night with friends. If you spend all of your time doing work, you will become a stressed out person that is very cranky! Everyone needs to enjoy life and make lots of memories.

3. Cry

This is something that I am trying to learn myself. I have this awful tendency to bottle all of my feelings up to the point where I don’t even realize my own feelings. As a result, I tend to never cry. Like, never. This is something I am definitely working on because crying is necessary. Sometimes life is just so stressful and we just need to shed a few tears. Sometimes we are hurt by someone and we cry and feel better after we are done. It is ok to cry.

4. Get Involved in a Church

Seriously, it might be one of the best things to do. Having a relationship with God helped my success tremendously, and it has also helped me fully live my life with purpose. In addition, getting involved in a church is such a good thing to do. When you are involved in a church, you get a support system. For me, being in a church has helped me grow closer to God, and it also gave me people to hold me accountable. It helped me become a leader, and it also gave me other leaders to look up to. I would not be here today if it weren’t for trusting in God with absolutely everything. I also would not be here without the partners of my church to show love and kindness.

5. March to the Beat of Your Own Drum

Seriously, don’t listen to others. Don’t listen to what society says, either. Live life exactly the way you want, and ignore the peanut gallery. After all, it is your life and not anybody else’s life. Your life is between you and God, and nobody else really matters. To be completely honest, your parents, teachers, or friends get to decide what is best for you. They will help you with encouragement and advice, but they aren’t the ones who get to decide. Besides, ignoring other opinions immediately makes you feel free!

6. Don't be Afraid to Love

This does not necessarily mean having a boyfriend or girlfriend, although it could be. Do not build up a wall so big that nobody can enter in and get close to you. Learn how to love others and how to be loved. Let others in. Develop close-knit friendships. Show love lie crazy, even when they hate you. Be like Christ.

7. Lift Your Hand to the Heavens

In my voice lessons, my voice teacher will sometimes make me lift both of my hands high above my head and sing. When my hands are held high, it opens and expands my ribcage. This gives more space to the diaphragm, allowing me to sing out with more support and with more power. When we are deep in worship in church, we also lift our hands. This way, when we worship God, we are surrendering to Him and opening ourselves up to Him. It literally makes our voices louder and makes us more powerful Christians. When our hands are lifted, we literally grow and become more confident.

8. Don't Complain

I feel like one of the worst things you could do to yourself is build up all of this negativity by complaining all of the time. I completely understand that life gets hard and frustrating, and it build up anger and negativity. I used to do it myself. It made me such a bitter person, so I decided that it was time to let go. I used to complain all of the time, and I could feel the negativity boiling up within me. It never helped anything, and it always put me in a bad mood. It is better to focus on the things that make us happy, and it instantly helps our mood. Besides, nobody likes a bitter person!

9. Be Selfless

I cannot stress how important this is. Don’t be selfish. Help other people when the need it. Help other people when they don’t need it. Pay for someone else’s coffee. Don’t live your entire life worrying about yourself and only your sanity. Be there for other people. Think about other people before you think about yourself.

10. Smile

This is super important! Don’t forget to smile. Even when life sucks, smile. When life is going great, smile. When you fail a test, smile. I am a person who smiles all of the time, so this one is pretty easy to me. It takes more muscles to frown than it is to smile. Therefore, it isn’t difficult to show off a smile! Smiling shows more confidence, even if you don’t feel very confident. Smiling ultimately makes you happier and more attractive. There are people in this world that really need you and your contagious smile. We can all make this world a better place, and it all begins with a big smile.