For my 18th birthday, I wanted to share a few things I have learned that have stuck with me throughout my life.

1. There is good and evil in all of us. A hero is simply the villain of the other side.

2. You don’t lose power when other people are empowered.

3. It doesn’t matter if you’re stuck in the past or are trying to forget the past, what matters is what you do in the present.

4. You never get over the loss of someone you love, you just learn to live with it.

5. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used against you.

6. It begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to has power over you.

7. Learning about other people will teach you about yourself.

8. You never know what someone else is going through.

9. Live without regrets.

10. There is a difference with being in love with someone and being in love with the idea of someone.

11. If you write (paint, dance, sculpt, sing, etc.), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.

12. All life is precious.

13. If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude about it.

14. Friends come and go, but family is forever.

15. If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?

16. Not everyone thinks the same way you think.

17. Love is love.

18. Some things will never go back to the way they were, and that’s OK.