These are all cliche and overused but they all truly were eye-opening lessons for me in 2016-
1. Trust your gut and never let anyone change your mind. If you are going to change your views or your mind have it be on your terms not because someone has pressured you into questioning yourself. Fight back and stand up for yourself. If Donald Trump has taught me one thing it is to be yourself when everyone else wants you to be like the status quo.
2. True friends are the friends who are there through the good, the bad, and the ugly. They are with you at your best and worst and take time out of their day to make you feel important. People who claim to be your friends and only use you when it is convenient for them should be a thing of the past in 2017. The true friends are the friends who slave away in the library with you at ungodly hours of the morning or the friends who at the drop of a hat will help you with your current crisis.
3. Hard work pays off. I know everyone says it but this semester has shown me that if you truly work at something and pour all of your effort into it, your goals will come to fruition.
4. Facebook friend purges are oddly satisfying. Going through and unfriending the people who are negative, rude, or just generally annoying is a great feeling. I vow to do this more often in 2017. When you scroll through facebook it should be to relax and de-stress not read about everyone's issues and relationship problems.
5. Be yourself and do not care what others think of you. You are you for a reason, what a sad world this would be if everyone was the same.
6. Family, whether it be family by blood/DNA or family by choice, is everything. Life is so much easier when you have a great family by your side during the journey of life.
And perhaps the most important lesson I learned during 2016-
Forgive. Forget. And move on- Whatever you are mad about from 3,6, or 9 months ago is not worth wasting your time and dwelling on. Forgive or move on and just accept some people can not be changed. Whoever they are they are not worth dwelling over and making yourself upset over. Life is so much better when you just accept some people will never be nice or change their ways.
