Life can be really scary. That's why it is really important to have Faith. Trusting in Someone other than ourselves gets us through life. Anyone between the ages of 17- 30 knows that you spend a good percentage of your time stressing about the future. Where will I go to college? Where am I going to live after I graduate? Am I going to ever find a job? Where? What? When? How? These words just fill our minds and make us really uncomfortable and unsure. Not going to lie, I really had a tough junior year, but I got through it, and I know myself so well now. Here are some phrases that really helped me calm down

1. Focus Forward

I say this phrase when I am trying to figure out my life. I was freaking out about internships, grades, vocations, relationships, you name it. Emotionally, I was really struggling. At some point, I decided that I was going to just focus forward on God. The direction is really key here. Draw an image that represents God for you, a Cross, a fish, etc. Then imagine yourself, over the course of life trying to get to that image, to God, because that’s the goal. Then, think about what would help get you there. Write those goals in between you and the image. For me, I believe that that’s marriage and kids. I really emphasize forward, because there are going to be things or people that will distract you sideways from your ultimate goal. People will tell you you should do something else. Society will tell you your goals aren’t good enough. You’ll tell yourself you aren’t good enough. It can be a real hurdle. You've got to block out the noise and have tunnel vision. I have this theory, and though it isn’t necessarily backed up by anyone official, it works for me. I believe that all the goals we have (that are good of course) are put into our hearts/heads by God. I know that He has this plan for each and every person, so I feel like our dreams and aspirations have to come from Him.

2. Trust

Trust in yourself, trust in God, trust in others. Trust yourself to get to where you want to go. Trust that God will help get you there. Trust that other people will show up in you life as you need them and when they are supposed to.

3. Don’t Give Up

Don’t give up on grades, your career, love, your path, your friends, or yourself. Things can get all confusing and depressing, but remember Who you should be living for.

4. Push the Negative Thoughts Away

The only way you can doubt yourself is by letting doubt in. I was and am so guilty of this. I had to train myself to not think about things that would bring me down. This isn’t a form of escapism… somethings you just really don’t need to worry about.

5. Find Ways to Cheer Yourself On

It can be really easy to be too hard on yourself. Now, I don’t mean let yourself slack off, but, it is really good to know when you are doing everything you can. Find a song that really gets you going, or a whole soundtrack… just keep moving forward.

6. Move to the Peace

There are going to be tough decisions that YOU have to make. Find what makes you the happiest (all morals in tact) and go with it. You’ll probably always wonder “what if,” but you got to just stick with something. My mom says that I am the reason Neapolitan ice cream was invented. I just have the hardest time making decisions. Something that really helps me make big decisions is recognizing where I would be most peaceful. For instance, I knew I would have way more peace at a school that wasn’t super sports heavy, so I went to a school that focuses on other things.

7. Try YOUR Best

Do what you can, take the baby steps. People are going to be ahead of you at certain point and in certain stages, you have to be content with the progress you are making.

8. Don’t Compare

They say “Comparison is the thief of Joy.” OK, I don’t know about you, but this speaks volumes to me. We all have those times where we’ve gotten dressed up really nicely, our hair looks good, and we’re feeling pretty great. Then someone else walks in, and they have on nicer shoes, or a cuter belt. All of the sudden, our confidence lands on the floor. Don’t do that to yourself.

9. Do Something for Others

At some point you have to stop whining and realize that there are people that need you. Maybe this is volunteering at a soup kitchen, maybe it’s adopting a child from a foreign country, whatever it is, helping someone will send your mood through the roof.

10. Let the Past Go!

We all have that awful high school principal or that mean ex or maybe something terrible happened to you. This is something I really struggled with. I spent years being really angry about something that happened to me. I finally recognized that other people were truly suffering in the present, and that I had a great life and needed to move...you guessed it, forward.

11. Be Grateful.

If you’re American you have so much to be grateful for. Clean water, clean air, freedom, enough food, educational opportunities… you name it. Heck if you’re alive, you have so much to be grateful for. For instance, this semester, instead of complaining about my course load, I am going to be grateful for an education.

12. (Try to) Live in the Present

Maybe it’s because I am an INFJ or maybe because I have always been a day dreamer… but I am ALWAYS thinking about the future. I have to remind myself to take a step back and be where I am. I only get to be 21 once, for crying out loud.

13. Give it over to God.

I am on this struggle bus. I don’t know why I keep getting on it… I mean, three months ago I was freaking out about being jobless, and then a week later I had three job offers in two days. My point is, He has a plan, it’s been mapped out for centuries. We’ve just got to accept this journey and focus forward.