As I write this, I am reflecting on the past 365 days of my life. They have been the hardest days I have ever lived. 365 days ago (as of Feb. 18, 2016) I lost the most important person in my life, my father. As I reflect, I think of how perfectly he set me up to thrive in my life. He taught me more than just what I need to survive. He taught me what I need to live my life to its full potential, to never waste a day and what really matters. He was such a good teacher and know-it-all that we nicknamed him Gandhi. I hope you take these lessons and implement them into your life.
1. The most important thing in the world will always be your family.
Family will always come first. With my siblings, this is not a question. This is never second guessed or given a second, though. If someone needs something, you are there. At the end of the day, friends will come and go. No matter what, your family will always be there for you so do the same for them. As family, you always support each other. You do what you can to make them happy. Even if you don't agree, you support them if it makes them happy.
2. You can count your real friends on one hand.
No matter what you say about your new best friend, chances are they won't be forever. Like I said above, friends will come and go. Your real friends are the ones you can call at 3 a.m. and they will not hesitate to do whatever they need to for you. Right now, I have two of those friends. In my lifetime, I will never have more than five of those friends and I am OK with that because he taught me to be ok with that.
3. Do what you love.
Life is short and you only get one so I was taught that no matter what, I should do what I love and what will make me happy. He would always say that you don't want to wake up in the morning to go to work and have to drag yourself out of bed. You should be excited to go to work because you love what you do. I hear college students say all the time that they are so far into their major that even though they want to change to something they enjoy, they can't. I was taught to do the opposite. No matter how far I am into a certain major, I can always change. I will figure it out and find a way to pay for it. That decides the rest of my life and I need to do what makes me happy. If you aren't happy, change it. He never pushed me into something that wouldn't make me happy. I love him immensely for that.
4. Eat dessert before dinner.
Why? Because why not? If you don't finish your dinner take it home. Life is short, eat the cake. Better yet, just eat cake for dinner. He took me to ice cream for dinner so many times, I cannot count them all. And guess what? I'm still here, healthy and all.
5. Don't be an adult.
Being an adult is lame. Stop being so serious. Laugh and joke around no matter who is watching. Who cares who see? Will you ever see those people from that store ever again? Chances are you won't. Sing at the top of your lungs, dance in the rain and just be happy.
6. Pick your battles.
I cannot explain how important this one is. I did not understand this concept until after I lost him. Losing him made me realize how short life really is. There is no point getting upset over 70 percent of the stuff that you get upset over. If it doesn't directly affect your life, ignore it. Who cares what your friend did with her life. Getting annoyed over it will just decrease the amount of time you can be happy. Choose what is really important to care about and fight over. One day, this concept will hit you in the face and you will want to hit everyone else in the face who doesn't understand yet.
7. You cannot help who you fall in love with.
We do not choose to fall in love. We all want the perfect person we pictured in our head. We do not always get that person.
Take these lessons and go thrive.
