Wake up early before the world is awake. Appreciate the sound of the wind and the distant crashing of the waves onto the shore. Let yourself forget every worry, every doubt. Allow yourself to believe that in this moment, you and the growing sunrise are all that exist.
Roam around aimlessly through the cracked and forgotten streets of El Gotico. Learn to re-love the city in which you live. Appreciate sidewalks and buildings and hidden alleyways. Stumble upon hidden cafes and enter every bookstore you encounter. Meander around the remains of ancient castle walls, get lost in foreign cities, and “forget” your maps at home.
Wear messy buns or let your hair run loose. Study to succeed but not to impress. Allow laughter to be an integral part of your everyday. Don’t let others tell you what to wear, how to act, what to think. Make a mess when painting while you blast the music way too loud. Take time to read and write and be proud of what you do.
Sit at airports and watch as others are reunited with the ones they love. Admire as they reach that moment in which “goodbye” finally ends. Don’t be fearful to show emotion: cry if you want to, smile if you don’t. Go out by yourself. Don’t be ashamed to be alone. Enjoy the presence of others, but indulge in radical self-love.
Talk to new people. Engage in random conversations. Find pieces of yourself in every person that you met. Encourage others to see the beauty they fail to see in themselves. Hug people with feeling: show that you care. Don’t ever let the ones you love forget that you do.
Hop on a random plane but do always look back. Don’t throw away the pieces that once assembled who you used to be. Accept your past and use it to create a new future. Realize that everyone in your life is there for a reason; find that reason and grow with it and with them.
Remember that it is okay to be sad, heartbroken, stressed, or angry at times. Keep in mind that these are just temporary feelings if you allow them to be. Erase them from your life, your entire existence ... hell, erase them from this page if you’d like. You are too complex for just a jumble of letters; you are too unique to be defined.
Thank God, Allah, HaShem, or whoever you look up to that you are alive. Realize that life is a beautiful and unique experience that you are blessed enough to have.
Last but not least, do not be afraid to sound cheesy -- tell others that cliches are retold so often for a reason; live simply, have no regrets, be positive, try something new, believe that everything does, in fact, happen for a reason, and most importantly, do not let others tell you how to live -- because you are special and the world only has one copy of you.