You've probably heard this phrase so many times that it's lost its meaning to you. Even so, focusing on yourself is the best path to follow in your adolescent years because any self-improvements you make will last you a lifetime; whereas working on building relationships that are bound to crash and burn won't help much in the future. The way I see it, you have a limited amount of energy, and the amount of energy you put into yourself reflects how close you are to being the best individual you can possibly be. For example, if you put 50% of your energy into yourself and 50% of it into other things, then you'll be 50% of the best individual you are capable of being. That means your morals, self-discipline, education and happiness will be at half of their full potential. Stop and reflect upon your life - are you content with where you're putting your energy?

Focusing on yourself will help you to improve who you are as an individual and positively influence your life. Whether it be your relationships, future, grades or health, working on your self-discipline, time management, academics, personality and body will pay off in all aspects of your life, and I can personally attest to that. It will make you an overall happier, more likeable and well-rounded person. Who doesn't want that?

If you focus on yourself, it will also prevent you from wasting your time and energy on temporary and trivial parts of your life. Some people are bound to trespass against you, and it will hurt even more if you put a great deal of time and energy into your relationship with the person. It is still extremely crucial to work on building relationships with other people, but what I'm saying is that you should be selective in which ones you put your time and energy into. I'm talking about the relationships that you know aren't going to last or positively influence your life, such as a casual hook-up buddy or a toxic friend. It can be truly difficult to avert your attention from these unhealthy relationships because of the momentary bliss they ignite in your life, but the long term benefits make it worth the effort.

If there's anything to get out of this, it's that you are worth your own time and energy. Your relationship with yourself is just as important as (if not even more than) your relationship with any other person on this planet.