I just turned nineteen, and while this seems like a small number of years to be alive and experience things, I feel as though I’ve experienced and learned quite a lot. Here are some things I’ve picked up while living through these nineteen years of life:

1. It’s okay if something doesn’t come naturally to you. Ever since the 7th grade, math has been incredibly hard for me. Throughout eighth grade and the entirety of high school, I had to retake almost every single quiz and test I took because it was almost guaranteed I would fail it the first time (disregarding geometry, which I rocked at). It was very frustrating for me because it just wouldn’t click, and to this day certain things still don’t. When I took my placement exam for college, it placed me in the lowest math class my university offered - so low in fact that the class didn’t even count for credit. This was a hard pill to swallow, but I’ve learned since taking the said class that it was a necessary step in the journey to understanding something that I’ve struggled with for a long time. Sometimes you have to step back before you can step forward.
2. People aren’t always as they seem. Not everyone is who they appear to be, and that’s just a part of life. You will come across people that have intentions full of malice, even if you don’t realize it at first. There are people that build their whole lives up through deceiving others in hurtful and damaging ways. It is possible to stay clear of people like this but there’s always one that slips through the cracks.
3. You are never required to completely open up to someone about everything in your life. Going along with my last point, there are some people that will use your past against you when there is some sort of problem between the two of you. It is very important to note that you never have to share every little teensy tiny bit of your life with anyone unless you want to and you trust who you’re talking with.
4. It’s okay to do things for yourself. There is no issue in taking time for yourself and doing what you think will make you happy. You shouldn’t do things for other people just because you want to please them. If a friendship or relationship only benefits one party, it’s not a friendship or a relationship at all.
5. Even though it’s dumb and so 2012, YOLO has some substantive meaning to it. You only live once. This is an incredibly true statement – you’re here to live one life and one life only. That’s it. Once it’s over, it’s over. You can’t go back in time and change the past. Making the most of a moment is so important because you’re never going to be able to get that moment back again. Do what you want to do with your life, because it’s yours, and you only have one life.
6. Don’t let your fingers slip when you’re cutting wood with a band saw. You’ll almost cut off your finger and give yourself a weird scar on your right middle finger like I did in sixth grade.
7. Animals are amazing creatures, and you may want to save them all, but that is not how nature works. When I was very young, I found an extremely young baby bird on the ground alone and told my mom about it. She told me there was nothing we could do for it, and put it near some barn cats so that they could eat it. I remember being very upset and distraught that my mom would do such a thing - but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized that that is life’s natural cycle. Not every baby bird can live and become an adult. If I hadn’t found the bird to begin with it would have died anyway. There was no way around it and no realistic way to help the bird. That is how nature rolls and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
8. There is more to the world than your phone screen. I know I sound like a sixty-year-old woman muttering about “kids these days” but trust me, it’s worth it to cut the screen time by a few hours.
9. There is nothing wrong with being a ‘goodie two shoes’ in class. Even in college, I try to be ‘that student’ who is never on her phone in class, takes diligent notes, has her eyes glued to the power point, and won’t reply if you try to whisper to her. I just have never understood why you would waste a minute of your time in class when you could be learning and expanding your knowledge as a human being.
10. Not drinking, partying, or doing drugs is cooler than actually doing all of those things. You’re not a loser, you’re just obeying the law and staying healthy.
11. Challenge yourself, or you will never get better. This goes for exercise, education, and really anything generally – you can’t make progress if what you’re doing isn’t challenging.
12. Working out, eating healthy, and drinking lots of water will improve your life. This can be tough sometimes, because seriously – who actually likes to work out, drink water, and eat things that are actually good for you? Pretty much no one. Nevertheless, your body will thank you. These three things are key to really maintaining a happy body that functions correctly and gives you enough energy to get through the day.
13. It’s okay not to like people. For those of you reading who follow my Snapchat, you know where I’m going with this. It is totally acceptable to not like someone. If they give you a bad vibe, if they disrespect or mistreat you, you have all the right in the world to avoid the said person. If someone else tries to make you feel bad for not liking someone, you might as well cut them out of your life too – no one else can tell you how to feel. If someone doesn’t like the way you feel about something, and they have a problem with you because of it, they’re not worth the energy.
14. Apple Music is the best investment I have ever made for myself. As someone who listens to music every single day, it’s important to me to have the music that I want to listen to available to me on my music app. Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to go to iTunes and buy every single album I want to listen to – what if I don’t end up liking a song that I bought? I waste my money! Apple Music is really the easiest way to find artists that I want and download as many of their songs as I want, and it even lets me listen to a song in full before I download it. If music is a huge part of your life, Apple Music (or really any streaming service that is similar) is totally worth the monthly fee.
15. There are some friends that are truer than others. I’ve had my fair share of friends in life, some that I’ve left behind and some that I’m still close with. Taking the time to really examine each person you’re close with is important. If you’re close to someone but you feel like they’re using you, it’s okay to talk to them about it and if necessary, drop them. Your friends are supposed to be the people that lift you up, not drag you down.
16. Check your privilege. No details necessary.
17. Take a personal finance class if you can. I took personal finance the last semester of my senior year of high school, and must I say it was one of the most useful classes I’ve ever taken. It’s a glance at what life is actually like in the real world when it comes to bills, taxes, mortgages, credit, and banking among other financial things. It is definitely worthwhile, and although it is boring to some, it’s one the only classes you’ll take in high school that you’ll actually use in real life.
18. Never, ever, EVER take an 8am class. If you can help it, just don’t do it. Unless you’re into morning classes, then more power to you.
19. Never be afraid to try something new. My life has been a constant cycle of being terrified to try something, trying it, loving it, and succeeding in it. As a freshman in high school, I was terrified to participate in my high school’s theater club, but over time I would join meetings and become more and more involved. I ended my senior year as a member of International Thespian Society, as well as the Press Secretary of my theater group. Similarly, I was very nervous to join color guard as a junior in high school, so much so that my mom had to convince me to go to the first meeting. Through hard work and a lot of dropped tosses, I became captain of the team my senior year. All of my success started with me being scared to try something new, and I’m very thankful that I was able to push through my initial anxiety and end up with absolutely rocking what I did.So, in close, may this next year of my life be full of many more life lessons that are less lame and adult-like than all of these.