1. Love yourself and be your own best friend.

Know that you are more than enough for you and anyone else. Be a savage. Do you, grow and prosper in life, and drop anything or anyone that has an issue with that. Stop being hard on yourself, accept your flaws and imperfections, and just start enjoying who you are. Hype yourself up, stay true to what works for you best, and don't allow anyone to kill your confidence. Someone's opinion of you should not have to be your reality. As corny as this may sound, if you wake up every morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself that you're a bad bitch, eventually will start to believe it. You have got to show yourself love cause honestly, no one will ever have you like you got you. Do what you want and make yourself happy. Once you know who you are, no one can tell you any different.

2. Don't chase anyone, just match their effort.

If someone wants to talk to you, they will. If someone wants you in their life, they will show you. If someone wants to make your friendship or relationship work, they will. The people who want to act right will act right. Do not let anyone tell you any different because the people that make excuses as to why they can't make the effort don't deserve a seat in your life. You don't have time to explain to people to that you're poppin' because they should already know if they're dealing with you. We're too old to be dealing with one-sided situations because ain't nobody got time for that! If they're only putting in 10%, then I'm only putting in 10%.

3.Stop being friendly to f***boys.

LISTEN, SIS. We have to do better. We sincerely have to. Stop making these men feel special for doing what they should be doing as far as treating you as the amazing woman that you are. Stop letting these men have so much control and power over your emotions. You should never let anyone, let alone a man, hurt you so much to the point where you have to continue to tell them how they should be treating you. If they don't get it after two times, drop them. In general, men have been taught and trained to think that women owe them a piece of herself, which is false. You don't owe a man anything. A man earns you. It is 100% okay to fall back and protect yourself when you're at the point where you're trying to force someone to see the potential in you that you see in them. Protecting your heart isn't selfish because half of the people you give it to don't deserve that shit. You shouldn't want to be with someone who makes excuses as to why they can't treat you right. That is not a thing, that doesn't even make sense, and that's lame af. Any man who has an excuse for why he can't commit to you, be with you, or pursue you doesn't deserve you. AT ALL. Yo, drop him. Believe me, your life will get so much better and you will be happier. Stop giving these guys 6,234,673,289 chances to do the same shit to you over and over again. Stop trying to force love on a man that just wants your body. Stop having unprotected sex with men who don't care about your physical, mental, and emotional health. That is your body, the only body you have. Take care of it. Cherish that shit. Read this 100 times. We as women need to do better. When will women's needs matter to men? Men are going to continue to think that it's okay for them to treat us any kind of way until we stop allowing them to do it. I think it's really funny that guys will be so ride or die for their boys who aren't ride or die for them, but treat the woman who always makes sure that he's good like she's worth nothing. I don't get it. Don't ever let a man disrespect you, especially if you always made sure he was good when no one else did. Block his number and love yourself. And stop sympathizing with men who openly call women hoes and bitches for showing human emotions and behaviors. Let karma do its dirty work.

4. Don't settle for less than you want & deserve.

Do not be afraid to ask someone "Do you like me?" or "Is this going anywhere?" or "Is this just going to be a sexual thing?" or "Do you care about this friendship?" I know that we're all afraid of coming on too strong or sounding needy, but don't be afraid to ask somebody what their intentions are with you because you have every right to know and know the truth. If what someone wants doesn't match what you want, walk away. It's better to know in the beginning than after months of investing your energy and time. I once read, "Any relationship that could be "ruined" by having a conversation about feelings, standards, or expectations wasn't really firm enough anyway, so there isn't much to ruin." This is facts. Stop giving people 37637463647 to make a friendship work with you. If they're not getting it the first couple times, accept them for who they are and keep it moving. Relationships and friendships should not be forced. Sometimes you have to drop the expectations for someone in your life to act right and let it be what it is. Give your time and effort to the people that deserve it the most.

5. Make sure the people in your life know that they matter to you.

Think of all the people in your life that you're grateful for. Think of all the people who have loved you, supported you, been there for you for no matter what, and who have never given up on you. Now ask yourself if you've done the same. Sometimes we get so caught up in our life and what we're going through that we forget about the people that mean the most to us. Let your best friend know that you love them and you couldn't imagine life without them. Let your mom know that you're grateful for everything she does for you. Let your girls know that you appreciate them sticking by your side through thick and thin. Most of the time, it's really as simple as telling a person how much they mean to you.

6. It is 100% okay to be sad.

It's okay to be sad for a day. It's okay to be sad for a week. It's okay to be sad for a month. It's okay to lay in bed all day and cry all day even if it's for absolutely nothing. You don't need a reason to cry. It's okay to turn off your phone for as long as you need to if you don't want to talk to anyone. It's okay to want nothing to do with anyone and just be alone. Always embrace your sadness because that is the only want you're going to be able to deal with it and overcome any of those feelings. If you are hurt and upset about something, embrace those feelings as well. We have been trained to think it's cool not to care, but the reality of it is when we act like we don't care when we really do, the only person we are hurting is our self. Embrace your feelings. Embrace vulnerability. Embrace your sadness. It doesn't make you weak, it makes you human.

7. It's okay not to have your shit together sometimes.

We're young and so pressured by the adults around us to have our life together because they claim that when they were our age, they had this and that going for them, but nine times out of ten, they were just as lost as we are. There is obviously nothing wrong with having your shit together or wanting to have it together, but it's important to remember that we're going through all the motions and we should be focused on enjoying life as much as we can. We're all just trying to figure it out. Go with the flow, take life one day at a time, and know that no matter what, you're going to find your path. I think we forget that we have to trust the process always and allow things to happen and work themselves out the way they should, but we also have to understand that we have to be the ones that make things happen for ourselves as well as far as taking risks, trusting our intuition, and making the decisions that we know are best for us.