seventeen
Hi guys, welcome back to the blog!
So if you’re new here or didn’t read my birthday post
from last year, I did a post for my 17th birthday where I share some
of the things I learned at 17. And I thought I would do the same this year for
my 18th birthday. Tomorrow, I
enter a new year in my life. A new age,
and this year is pretty special because it’s my 18th birthday which
basically means I can’t get any youth discounts and I have to do this thing
they call “adulting.”
Before that happens, I wanted to share a few things I
learned and things that happened to me while I was 17. I honestly didn’t feel any different than
when I was 16; however, I feel like my brain aged by 50 years. I feel like I did the most growing up this
year than I did the past 16 years before that.
Regardless of age, though, I just want to jump right into this and tell
you what all I learned when I was seventeen (and I’ll try not to ramble too
much.)
Patience
I feel like the biggest thing I mastered maturity wise
was patience. Now please understand that
I am not a very patient person so when I say “mastered” I mean most of the
time. My whole life, I’ve never been
able to wait. When the latest and
greatest toy came out, I wanted it that day.
When there was anything I wanted, I wanted it right then and right
now. I could not stand waiting. This goes for other opportunities for life as
well. I have never been a patient
person. This year, however, I feel as
though I handled the impatientness much better.
I’ve learned to trust God’s timing for things and understand that even
though I may want something, now may not be the best time. Furthermore, when I’m patient, I’ve realized
there may be better opportunities and better things to come if I’m patient
enough to wait for them.
Be less bothered by the little things
This kind of goes along with the whole patience thing,
but let me tell you about another one of my issues: I let small inconveniences
get to me wayyy to easily. It was almost
ridiculous. I would get mad after
getting left on read (but who doesn’t?) or if I had to wait on someone. And the fact that I would get bothered by
those things REALLY bothered me even more.
It was so bad that I couldn’t even enjoy being around people or doing
fun things because I was so upset over something so little. This is still an issue that I’m working to
master, but I thought it was worth mentioning because maybe you have the same
problem. One of the things I do when I
start to get stressed or angry over something is to just take a minute and tell
myself “this is only one moment in time.
Don’t let something so small ruin your potential to have an amazing day.” And most of the time, the things I get angry
about aren’t even worth the energy to be angry!
Starting a new and healthy lifestyle
This was big for me.
Basically I wasn’t happy with my life and where I was before I turned
17. I decided to change that, and
started taking steps to move towards a healthier and better life. Some of these steps included: developing good
sleep habits, changing what I eat, staying productive throughout the day,
exercise, and surrounding myself with positive influences. I think I’ve said this before, but if you
want to change your life, you have to change your lifestyle. You cannot move towards a better version of
your life if you don’t make any lifestyle changes. I believe the state of your mental health is
dictated by your lifestyle. If you have
a healthy lifestyle, you’ll have a healthy mindset. This has been true for me because as soon as
I changed the way I was living before, everything became so much better.
Living day by day
“Do not worry about what tomorrow will bring” is a
principle I have been living by this past year.
I like to anticipate, I love dreaming up scenarios that will never come
true. The problem was that I was
focusing on that too much and not taking the time to live for the day and appreciating
what I have now. Every day I wake up and
I formulate a plan for the day: what are my priorities NOW? What is important to me NOW? How can I make TODAY a good and productive
day? At the end of each day I write down
one thing I’m grateful for that day.
Sometimes its just small things like getting an A on a math test or
eating a good meal. Whatever it is, it
really helps to keep my attention on the present day and being content with
what I have now.
Surrounding myself with positivity
Ever heard the phrase “you
are what you eat”? When you think about
it, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. So if I eat lettuce does that mean I turn
into a plant? Yeah probably not, but you
get the idea. I believe the same
principle applies with what you surround yourself with. For an example, I once knew someone who was
sad and at a low almost every single day.
Every time I talked to them, their negative energy would drain out all
the positive energy I had stored up.
Unfortunately, it took a few of those people to figure out what was
happening. Ultimately, though, I think
this is one of the key ingredients to the recipe of a happy life. You are what you eat, and you become what you
surround yourself with.
All of these lessons, which have taken me years to learn,
have brought me to the happy place I’m at now.
Most of these things have taken place over the past year. Without any doubt, I can say I’m living my best
life. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it
again: if you want to change your life,
you have to change your lifestyle. The
fact is, no matter how many drugs you take or whatever it is that takes you
away from your real world, those things are only temporary. If you really want to change your life
forever, you have to make some huge lifestyle adjustments and that’s never
easy, but I did it and so can you. Life
is a rollercoaster sometimes, but you just have to hold on until you reach the
end.
And that’s what I learned
when I was seventeen.
