Today, I turn 19. My 18th trip around the sun was pretty eventful. I moved away from home for the first time, completed my first year of college, had the opportunity to go on a couple of cool business trips, and experienced a lot of good days and a couple of bad ones.
In my 18th year, I learned a couple of things that will hopefully help me in my 19th.
Here are 18 pieces of wisdom that I learned from my 18th year…
- If you are doing your best, then you are winning. Literally nothing else matters. Focus all of your energy on doing your best in everything that you do. If you do this, it is impossible to lose.
- The worst question that you can ask yourself is “am I happy?” When you ask yourself this question, your mind will naturally look for reasons why you shouldn’t be happy. A much better question to ask yourself is “what do I have to be happy for?”
- Comparing yourself to others is the only way to ensure that you will never win. There will always be someone with more. Appreciate what you have, don’t fret about what others have.
- If you are not enjoying life, then what is the point? I know that life can be stressful, overwhelming, and really depressing sometimes, but if you have air in your lungs, you have something to be grateful for.
- Whatever you are feeling right now won’t last forever. Hell, it probably won’t even last for a day or week. If you are feeling on top of the world, know that the high will eventually end. If you are feeling down in the dumps, know that you eventually won’t feel so bad.
- It is okay to do things alone. Don’t feel embarrassed or like people will judge you. If you want to go do something but don’t have anyone to go with, then just go by yourself. Simple as that.
- How you use social media is going to determine what you get out of it. Do you use it to communicate with friends and family? Do you use it to show off? Do you use it when you are bored? Do you use it to compare yourself to others? I try to keep these questions in the back of my mind whenever I instinctually open any social media app.
- If you can find the root of your suffering, more often than not, you can eliminate it. Take the time to find out why you are feeling a certain way about something.
- Spend your money but don’t waste it. Save your money but don’t hoard it. If there is something that you have really been wanting to buy, then buy it. You can always make more money later. But don’t go out and make major purchases every day. It is all about balance.
- Spend as much quality time as possible with friends and family. You will feel better and happier because of it.
- Without consistency, you have nothing. It is better to work an hour a day on something for three months than to work five hours a day on something for just a week. Take things small step by small step. Accomplishing great things takes a great amount of time.
- Being afraid is not an adequate reason for not doing something. Ask yourself this question: “Is there a chance that I will regret not doing this in a week?” If the answer is yes, then just do it. Our fears often make mountains out of molehills.
- Do right by other people. Be honest with them. Put their needs in front of your own. Treat them with kindness.
- When you are working, turn off your phone. Log out of Twitter. Close out any extra tabs. Just focus.
- A lot has been made about mental health recently. And while I do believe that mental health is important, I also believe that physical health is important. Take the time to work on both, as they are very closely connected. You can’t have good mental health without good physical health.
- Even if you don’t like someone, try your best to be friendly. You don’t want to develop a reputation as a mean person.
- It is really important to have things to look forward to. It doesn’t matter what you are looking forward to, but when you have things that you are excited about, life becomes much more enjoyable. Find some things that get you excited.
- Things almost never go how you envisioned in your head. Remember this the next time you expect a certain event to play out in a certain way.