During my senior year of high school, I faced some pretty tough challenges that I believe have shaped me into the person I am today. Although these challenges were extremely difficult to deal with at times, I learned an extraordinary amount about life, and learned to see it from a different perspective. I'm glad to share all that I have learned with whoever might be reading this, as I hope to change the lives of others for the better as well.

1. You Are More Than What They Make of You

In life, you're going to be beaten down, gossiped about, and left out. Yes, this is going to hurt most of the time, and you may even begin to believe that you are exactly what these individuals make of you. You are not that. You are not whatever has been tweeted about you, you are not the weirdo that they make you feel like you are when they ignore you in a group setting. They don't know you. They cannot jump inside your head and physically see life from your perspective, they cannot see the things you've been through, and they cannot comprehend your feelings, because they are too concerned with their own and making themselves feel superior. You know who you are, and what other people say is completely, 100% irrelevant to your life and future.

2. Letting Yourself Go a Little Is Okay

You may have the tendency to beat yourself up and degrade yourself for falling behind in work or school, or even gaining a little bit of weight. This is all okay. This is all normal. No one can be perfect 100% of the time. Although it may be stressful, try not to think too negatively about it. Just think, "this is only temporary. I will get myself back on track, but for right now I cannot do anything to change what I had already let happen. Therefore I won't worry about it, and I will just work on fixing myself for the better so I'm back on the right path."

3. A Couple of Failures Is Not the End of the World

From time to time, you may think that you were just destined to fail. It may seem like you are just the biggest failure to exist, but you are not. Failure is normal and it happens to everyone. Sure, some individuals fail more than others, but what really determines your value is your willingness to try. One time when I had a difficult test in one of my classes, I could've just stayed in bed and avoided the whole thing all together. However, I decided to get out of bed and I went to class and I attempted to pass the test, even though I failed. Sometimes I would sit down and study for hours on end, and still fail my test. It became a continuous cycle of studying, failing, and self degrading. I felt like I wouldn't succeed in anything, but then I figured out that a grade on a test does not define who I am. Whether it be sports, school, work, taking care of someone/something else, or whatever else it may be, failure is okay. Failure means you tried. Failure means that you got out of bed, it means that you tried to be successful, and it means you had the will power to let yourself attempt to make a change for the better. If you have the willingness to try, you are most certainly not a failure.

4. Don't Take A Single Moment Of Life for Granted

This may seem cliche, but it's incredibly crucial that you embrace everyday like it is your last. It can be difficult to open your eyes to the concept of death, or how final it actually is. Life is all we know, and until you experience the loss of a loved one, it's difficult to comprehend. Life is all we have, and it is crucial to take advantage of everyday we've been given. If you don't live and love as much as possible, you'll be wasting the only life you have. It is so important to be positive and to find a silver lining in every situation possible, even if it's difficult. Society has a tendency to portray life as difficult. Sadly, depression, mental illness, and even death are glamorized through mainstream media. Life is so under-appreciated, and those that glamorize sadness haven't really been exposed to the other side of things. The ending of life is so final. Everything that we know is being taken away. However, the sad thing is that most individuals do not even realize how beautiful and divine living life is until they witness the ending of life. For me, I experienced the loss of a close friend, and I strongly believe I took advantage of my life before this occurred. This was the hardest thing I've had to deal with, but from this incident, I learned how valuable life is. I learned that all my failures, mistakes, and other bumps in the road I have encountered are all apart of this life, and that I should be grateful for them.

5. If You Think You Lost Everything, Think Again

If you have yourself, you have everything. You may have days where you lose your boyfriend/girlfriend, job, best friend, pet, or anything else that plays a key role to your happiness. You may feel alone and stranded, and like you have no purpose. You are the only person that can be there for yourself when times get tough. Although it may be difficult, you have to know who you are, and know that if you have yourself, everything will work out in the end. You have to believe that you are a joy and bring love to this world know matter how hard it is. You have your thoughts, you have your emotions,and you have every part of you that makes you who you are, and that's all you need. You are only going to be you for the rest of your life, so you might as well embrace it.

6. Never Give Up Hope

Hope is what helps us get through the tough times we encounter. Without hope, we would be stuck in a rut. Without hope, where would we be? If you never lose hope, and never give up on yourself, believe me, you will be okay. You will have motivation to keep going, because you have something to keep going for. It is impossible for you to be unsuccessful with hope. Without hope, I wouldn't have been able to make it through my senior year of high school, or even some of the classes I have now in college. During my senior year, life beat me to the ground and for a little while, I had no motivation, no hope, and I wasn't progressing in anything. Eventually something sparked in me that soon enough, everything will be just the way I want it to be. I haven't given up on it, and I have hope for all of you readers that one day you're going to wake up with the perfect life, next to the perfect person, and completely forget why you may have struggled with anything in life to begin with.