2016 was probably one of the most infuriating, stressful, complex, and heart-wrenching years of my life. From the looks of social media, I'm not the only one who wasn't crazy about this year. I lost any sense of sanity I might have had at one point, I lost my mind fighting for acceptance from others and worst of all, I completely lost myself. I lost all sense of who I was, but I was able to gain it back. So for all of the terrible things that happened this year, I learned a good handful of things as well.
Don't Trust Others Too Easily
I think this is a big one. I'm the kind of person who believes in the good in everybody, but I learned quickly that being too trusted is a good way to get hurt. Trusting someone too easily is a recipe for disaster. I've learned that you really have to take the time to get to know someone in order to know who they really are and their true intentions. After all, it's better to be alone knowing you're not getting betrayed than jump into something with someone after a short while and end up crushed, right? You need to allow time to do it's job and allow somebody to earn your trust. It's a privilege, not a right.
You Can Agree to Disagree
You know that scene in Mean Girls where all of the junior class girls start beating the living sh*t out of each other in the hallway like wild animals? Yeah, that reminded me of this year's election. I have never seen so many people so incredible nasty to each other. Whether you're a democrat or a republican, each political party attacked each other so badly that I was honestly so disgusted with what was coming out of their mouths. If this election taught me anything, it's that we can all agree to disagree and we can do so in a classy and respectful way. I have plenty of friends that were pro-Trump, and guess what? We're still friends. Why? Because I was able to sit with them and have a mature conversation on our difference of opinions. This is seriously something the entire world should've been doing but hey, what do I know. I'm just a millennial, right?
If Something Is Meant to Be, It'll Be
Okay, I'm sorry that I'm about to get kind of mushy here, but I don't care. I fell in love when I was 15 years old. It may have been a really young love, but it was a strong love. I still feel that love at 21, but now it's a grown up kind of love. I think that's what I needed - to grow up. It's what we both needed. I realized that as great as things were when I was in high school, I needed to grow up. I needed to come into my own element. I needed to find myself. But most of all, I needed to let time do it's job and not force a reconnection. I learned that if something is meant to happen to you, it will. But it will happen at the right time. It'll happen when you don't rush it. And when it does happen, you'll know it was meant to happen right in that very moment.
Don't Be Scared.. Ask For Help
I think out of all of the things I learned this year, this was the biggest one. I hit the lowest point of my life this year. I could write all about that but you can just read the article here. I was to ashamed and afraid to ask for help when I desperately needed it because I didn't want to look weak. I didn't want to look like a coward. I didn't want to look like a fraud. It wasn't until I fell into a dark place that I realized that needing help wasn't a problem, because we all need help in one way or another. Whether it be with money, with school, with relationships or most importantly, with your mental health - you are never weak because you ask for guidance. If anything it shows true strength. It shows that you want to better yourself and you're willing to do whatever you can to do so.
Thank you 2016. You were an interesting year to say the least. Now it's time to get ready to tackle 2017. I'm ready...
I think.
