This month I have been reading "101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think" by Brianna West, and it has helped me more than I could have imagined. Here are the sayings I am living by this year, thanks to her, friends, the internet, and myself!

1. Ride the Waves

I swear I am constantly just a moment away from getting a wave spontaneously tattooed on my wrist. Life is full of highs and lows; you just gotta ride each one and make the most of it!

2. This too shall pass

The aching feeling in your chest will one day eventually go away, no matter how deep it is. We determine what is bad and what is good, but ultimately something good comes out of everything.

3. It just makes for an interesting chapter!

I have been thinking of my life as a book, so when something bad happens, I just tell myself it's to keep the reader engaged.

4. Life is more fun with the Dispo app

This probably doesn't constitute as a mantra but seriously, I think whipping out the Dispo app and turning all the flash makes memories just a little bit sweeter :)

5. "I am allowed to move past the things and people that no longer make me feel like my best self" - Unknown

6. The grass is greener where you water it

The grass is not greener on the other side; it is greener where you tend to it.

7. Missed opportunities hurt more than rejections

I keep seeing this all over my Instagram recommended...I don't have any potential opportunity that could relate to this currently, so I am not entirely sure what the universe is trying to tell me. but yes, I agree.

8. Some of my best days are ahead of myself

It can be super easy to get caught up in all of the good moments that have passed and how you can never relive them, but there are even better ones ahead! We are going to meet people who love us, dogs that run to us, friends that completely shift our perspectives — the best is yet to come!

9. I am only capable of envisioning a future within the realms of what I already know

Something I have recently learned from the brilliant Brianna West is that we only know what we know, and so we can only imagine a future within what we know. We have no way to identify what will make us happy or what we want in the future because we only know what we have had.

10. I pick me

I am, after all, stuck with me, so I might as well enjoy it.

11. PARTICIPATE

This year I am encouraging myself to actively engage in social settings and make time for my friends, and I am enjoying life so much more!

12. Life is too short to wait for happiness

Too many of us wait for happiness when it needs to be something we actively seek and find and create for ourselves.

13. The only person I will always have is me

You can in fact not leave yourself.

14. I will no longer welcome things into my life that do not offer value

Life is short, make sure what you are letting in is good.

15. I am my biggest priority

I am not saying that you shouldn't prioritize other things and that you should never put others needs ahead of your own, but ultimately you cannot do all of the other things if you are not doing the necessary things for yourself to allow you to be able to do all of those things.