Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

Anonymous

Hey everyone. In honor of my sixteenth birthday passing by earlier this week, I've decided to write a take about some lessons I've learned throughout life. Obviously, I'm still young and have a lot to learn and experience, but this is my start. Some of them might be cliche, some of them aren't supposed to be taken seriously. But I've been wanting to write one of these for a while, and these are all things I had to learn. So let's get on with it.

1) Cherish then and now, but also embrace the future

I have to be honest here. When I woke up on my birthday, I cried. It hit me that my childhood is practically over and I'm on the path of becoming an adult. I missed believing anything was possible and just the simple innocence of being a kid. Then I realized that yes, while changes are hard to deal with, we can't be stuck in one place for the rest of our lives, that'd get boring after a while. So instead of being sad that those times are gone, I'm choosing to cherish the few happy childhood memories I have and move on to create equally as good memories for the future. Endings lead to great new beginnings, anyway.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

2) It's okay to not be okay

This is something I've struggled with a lot over my life. While I'm not diagnosed, I've dealt with a lot of depression waves throughout the years. I used to tell myself and anyone around me who asked that I was fine. I was always fine. I had to be fine. Showing sadness, or asking for help was a sign of weakness, right? Wrong, actually. I used to deal with my sadness through very unhealthy coping methods until I realized being a human comes with having many emotions, and it's okay to ask for support when those emotions overwhelm you.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

3) Blood isn't always thicker than water

I know people will disagree with me on this. I've heard the usual since a falling out with my mother happened. "But she's your mother!" "How could you cut her off?" "You'll regret that later!"

...please just don't. Just because you share the same DNA with someone doesn't make them incapable of being a toxic individual that you should distance yourself from. Trust me, I've tried to smooth things over, but there are some relationships you just can't mend. So why should I keep sacrificing my own happiness just because she's blood?

I shouldn't. This year, my own happiness is my priority, regardless of what people say to me.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

4) Never try to feed a friendly looking seagull

Last year, I was in the parking lot of a grocery store. There happened to be a seagull walking near me. He looked hungry, so I threw him the end piece of a loaf of bread (Not like anyone eats that piece anyway)

Low and behold, either 10 or 15 seagulls come out of nowhere and bombard me. I threw a wad of bread on the ground and took off running for my life while a few of them continued to chase me.

Moral of the story is that seagulls are greedy little sh*ts and you should avoid them.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

5) Regret is an unavoidable part of life

Everyone experiences regret at some point. Maybe a decision didn't pan out the way you wanted, but it still made you into the person you are today and formed your life out exactly as it is now, and if you're not happy with how that choice formed you, well, that brings me onto my next point...

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

6) It's important to take control of our own future

We, right now, are 100% responsible for our actions. Maybe we can't control the situation, but we can control how we react in it. When things go wrong, don't immediately point fingers, look for a way to make whatever went wrong go right. Easier said than done, I know. It's easy to blame others for our misfortune, but what good is that ever going to do us? Exactly, nothing. So take control.

7) It's always good to be open-minded.

This isn't something I agreed with when I was younger. Growing up in a conservative, Christian household, I was very closed-minded. Not saying all conservative households are close-minded, but I was. I couldn't put myself in other people's shoes, and see their viewpoints until these past couple of years. I learned that everybody has different views on things, and just because you don't agree with them doesn't mean they're a bad person. I'm kinda ashamed I thought that way during my childhood, but it's in the past now, and I'm looking towards the future of seeing other views, and kindly agreeing to disagree if it comes down to it.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

8 ) Don't conform to other people's perfect idea

Being a people pleaser, I only began following this one recently. Before, I wanted everyone to like me and would conform to different ideas which just grew to be exhausting. I never got everyone approval though since it simply isn't possible, and that's okay. I don't have to be everyone's perfect cup of tea. As long as my family, friends, and I like me, then that's enough for me to be content.

9) Life is always better with a cat

This is the last, but very important lesson I've learned.

Not gonna lie though, I'm really only including this so I can show off my cat.

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years

ISN'T SHE PERFECT?!

Moving on then... it was really fun writing one of these. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. As I said before, some things might sound cliche but they're very true, at least to me.

Anyways, until next time, have a nice day/evening everyone. <3

Life Lessons I've Learned in 16 Years
45 Opinion