I am twenty-three. I have a great job, relationship, and graduating college in less than a month. If someone told me where my life was today, I would had laugh. Five years ago, I was graduating from high school and beginning a Nursing career. Today, I am graduating with a Business Degree and gaining my Appraisal License. There are ten things, though, that I wish my eighteen-self knew.
1. There are a lot of things you do not know. Life is going to throw so much at you. Don’t plan ahead so much. You will change degrees and meet so many new people. Friends will come and go, but knowledge is forever.
2. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. No matter how many times you try to help someone, the best thing to do is to just listen and do nothing. Everyone wants someone to just stop and listen, hold them when they cry, and just love them. Some things in life are inevitable and it is up to us to truly learn from life.
3. Wisdom is not knowing all the answers. You can make all A’s in college, but still flunk in life. Sometimes wisdom is found in adventures along with mistakes. Go to places you have never been and become friends with people who are different than you. They have so much more to tell you about life. Life experiences are something that keeps your sanity and brings you peace.
4. Give people more than you expect. We are so worried about making good impressions or fitting into the expectations of others. Give others more than they expect. Overstep boundaries. State your opinions and be bold. Let your voice be heard and never bite your tongue. Honesty may hurt, but you will be respected for it.
5. Take good care of those you love. Put others first. Maya Angelou states this perfectly by saying, “People will forget what you did, they will forget what you said, but they will not forget how you make them feel”. You do not know how long you may have with them as well as your impact it has on their lives. Choose to spend your time with the best people in your life – the ones who bring you happiness and joy. When life moves on, it becomes clear who the most important people are in your life and that is a great thing.
6. Make peace with your past. If you don’t, your future relationships will fail. Maturity comes when you walk away from situations that you have no control over. You won’t be truly happy until you focus on what is ahead and see those situations as what it was rather than what it should have been. Doing this will create happiness and will mend the wounds.
7. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will? You only hold yourself back by worrying about what you are not in life. When you begin doubting yourself and who you are, you hold yourself back – you allow others to accomplish your dreams because you are scared. So follow your dreams, grow, and be you.
8. Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. You may not become the nurse that you dreamt of as a child or you may not end up with the person you planned to marry. And that is truly okay. Life constantly changes and so do you. You have to stand up, collect the pieces, and become the person you have always imagined.
9. There is no designated time for anything in your life. The day you stop caring what others think is the day their opinions mean nothing to you. You may be the last one of your friends to get married or still living at home after college, and you know what? That is okay! Do what your heart says rather than what your loved ones tell you. It may hurt them, but you are the only one that knows what is right for you.
10. You are more than what people see. Stop being afraid of being who you truly are. Nothing will define you unless you allow it. Stop trying to fit yourself into a box – educate yourself and be yourself. Be proud of yourself and your accomplishments, no matter the size. Stop trying to make yourself someone you are not just because someone else doesn’t like you. At the end of the day, people will still dislike you and there is nothing you can do about it. So, be confident and embrace your uniqueness.
