My mom has told me time and time again that "You can't control how others behave, you can only control how you respond to them." Life, and the people in it, can be very unpredictable and uncontrollable. This past year has especially shown me this, as so much has changed throughout 2016, and all of this change can be extremely unsettling. While this unease and discomfort can be paralyzing, and can be hard to grasp, it is important to be able to comprehend the fact that you have no control over what will transpire in the days to come.

I so badly wish that I could have an influence and a say on every aspect of my life. I wish that I could protect the people I love from the bad things in the world. I wish that I could know exactly how everyone in my life feels and thinks about even the little issues. The thought that you can't control the future, or others' behaviors, or the way that events will unfold throughout life, can be a terrifying one. I get very anxious thinking about the fact that I can't know or totally control how my life will pan out, that I don't get to micromanage every little detail, but here's the thing: no one can. As desperately as we all might try, as much as we might hope and wish that we could have a say over every part of our lives, the fact of the matter is that we can't control what will happen in life.

Life is complicated, and it's scary, and it sucks sometimes. You never know what'll happen, and life will change, but sometimes it's for the better. You can live possessed by the fear of the unknown, the anxiety of what may or may not happen, or you can roll with the punches, ready to decide how you will react and live with whatever happens. The latter will ultimately be the better path, the one you should choose to thrive in.

I can control the number of breaths I'm going to take in the next minute. I can control what pair of socks I'll put on in the morning (my otter ones, duh), I can control the words that I say and the way I do my makeup in the morning. To quote the inimitable Lin-Manuel Miranda (you guys didn't really think I'd get through this without quoting Hamilton, did you?), "You have no control over who lives, who dies, who tells your story." I can't, and won't, have control over an endless amount of things in my life, but I can control the little things in life- the little things that ultimately make life worth living.