Start this month with a clean slate. Here are a few reminders to hold onto as you go about your busy life:
1. Who you are now is what matters.
You’re not who you were in high school. You’re not who you were in college, last year, last week, yesterday--the list is endless. The possibilities of who you could be is not dependent on who you used to be. There is always an option for change, and change is important. People are always changing, so don’t guilt the people of your past who are trying to better their future.
2. Have sleepless nights.
Be selfish. Have those nights where all you do is laugh with your friends, stay out too late and go into work the next day with two hours of sleep. You need those nights. Those nights are what you live for, and what you’ll remember in 40 years. Not the nights where you studied for that test, or read a really good book. Don’t get me wrong, those are all important things, but the point is, you only live once. Make something of it.
3. Everything about this world is temporary.
"Liminal": That’s the perfect word to describe where we are right now. It’s all liminal. Much about this world will be forgotten. Phone calls, dates, lyrics, people, places, things, moments, car rides, conversations -- the list is endless. That’s why it’s so important to give everything you have in the moment and live for it. You have to live to remember, and remember to live. So take pictures. Even if in 70 + years they won’t make sense, the fact that they still exist in memory is what’s important. Because memory is a form of love.
4. It’s OK to fall in love.
Get hurt. Screw up. Mess around. Find who you are. Love, love, love with every bit of who you are. You can never love someone or something too much and regret it, but you can regret not loving them enough. Appreciate everything and everyone around you. In a year or two, nothing will be the same.
5. We’re growing up.
Forget about tendencies we had in high school. Remember the people who matter, forget about the ones who don’t. When we’re home for the summer spend it with the ones you love. Everything’s changing and that’s OK. Accept failure. Accept success. It’s all a part of the process.
