The year is winding down. 2017 was a weird year. In some ways, it was one of the worst years I’ve experienced. My mental health hit rock bottom, I lost my grandma, I lost the dog I had had since childhood, and I had my heart broken by someone I thought I trusted and who I thought I meant something to. In other ways, it was one of the best years of my life. I got the help my mental health needed, I realized a lot of important things about people who I thought would never hurt me, and I met the love of my life, my emotional support cat Steven. Honestly, all of these experiences would be going to waste if I didn’t learn something from each thing.
1. Just because you treat someone the way you want to be treated doesn’t mean that they’ll treat you the same
2. Visit your grandparents. Even if you are exhausted, because you never know when it might be the last time
3. You’re not always going to get the closure you want. Sometimes you’ll get what you get and you just have to try to be okay with that
4. There may be days that the most productive thing you’ll do is get out of bed, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of that. Be proud. You got out of bed. And if you didn’t, there’s always tomorrow to try again
5. If they’re consistently “just really busy,” consider that maybe they just aren’t interested. You make time for the people that you want to make time for
6. You would be amazed at what a night of good sleep does for your mind, body, and soul
7. You would also be amazed what a cat or a dog will do for your life
8. You don’t always have a say in what happens to you, but you can choose how to react to it
9. That being said, you have more say in the mood you’re in than you’d ever know
10. Trust your gut feeling no matter how bad you want it to be wrong. It’s usually right
11. There are shitty people in the world and no matter how much shit they toss your way, don’t take it personally, even if it is personal
12. How someone chooses to treat you says a lot more about them than it does about you
13. Similarly, if someone chooses to disrespect you and your feelings, that reflects more on them and their character
14. There is absolutely, positively NOTHING wrong with you. Keep doing you
15. The best things are unexpected and spontaneous (I mean, look at my sweet Steven)
16. You can say no to things you don’t want or don’t want to do, and nobody can make you feel bad about that
17. The only things worth worrying over are things you have control over, and even then if it’s worrying you, then do something about it (“Worrying only means you suffer twice”- Newt Scamander)
18. If you love someone, tell them. Maybe they feel the same, maybe they won’t. Either way, you’re going to go to bed and still wake up the next morning
19. It’s not your job to fix anybody. Unless you’re literally a doctor or a therapist
20.Remember that you can’t change somebody who sees nothing wrong with their actions
21. Additionally, you don’t have to believe them when they’re sorry. When they’re truly sorry, you’ll know it
22. Relationship games aren’t healthy. It’s better to be on your own than to be with someone who keeps you guessing
23. Say how you feel and be unapologetic about it. It’s your life and you have to live it
24. You literally do not have to be friends with people you do not like
25. Friends should make you feel good about yourself. Dump the ones who tear you down. You don’t need them
26. You’re not “weird.” You’re not “strange.” You are you and you’re not afraid to be you, and that’s kind of rare these days. Don’t let the opinions of conformists affect you
27. Maybe you don’t need that third margarita, but go ahead and treat yo’self. Nobody’s looking
28. You should never have to fight for anyone’s attention. Relationship or friendship, it doesn’t matter
29. People change and your friendship might drift apart and that’s not always anyone’s fault
30. You can choose to be happy. Or you can choose to be unhappy. It’s up to you
31. If you’re always waiting on someone else, you’re going to be waiting forever. Take charge and do what makes you happy, even if it means doing it on your own or that if won’t include the people you thought it would include
32. Life is not a race. No one is ahead, and no one is behind. We are all on our own timelines
33. Don’t be afraid to tell the people who make your world a better place that they make your world a better place
34. Just because you’re bad at something you love doesn’t mean you have to quit doing it
35. Always apologize when you should, even if it’s not the easiest thing to do
36. Be you, even when the world tells you to be someone else, and then decide not to care
37. You will have days when you feel like you’re on top of the world and you’ll have days when you’ll feel like dying. What matters is that you power through the days where you feel like dying and what you do with the days where you feel like you’re on top of the world
The lessons are valuable. If you can take away at least one valuable thing from every pile of crap life throws at you, then you’re doing okay. It’s okay to leave things in the past, but make sure to take with you the lessons you learned from it. And me? I’m taking these with me into 2018.
Photo by Ariel Lustre on Unsplash
