Boy, am I GLAD I Learned These Things Young
7 lessons by 17
My teen mind has signaled to me that these 7 lessons are as valuable as gold. Some of them by logic, some of them by experience. Here we go.
1. Pay attention to what your mind/heart tells you.
I realized I ignored a lot of feelings of worry, anxiety, and discomfort. It’s one of those things my human self did with no explanation, but it was important for me to start paying attention to where these feelings came from.
I thought I was weird, but when I started tracking where my discomfort came from, I realized I wasn’t the issue.
Life becomes better when you eliminate the sources that cause negative feelings, but you only know what to eliminate if you’re mindful of where your feelings come from.
2. Picture things in the future.
I’ve fallen off with several people over time and realized that I could have caught on to certain things earlier. It’s super important to analyze everything and take everything into account when meeting people and talking to people.
In other words, try your best to not ignore red flags by making educated guesses on issues that might potentially show up.
3. Zoom out of everything.
There’s this thing I call a ‘microscopic point of view,’ looking at something in such a way that they only focus on the tiniest angle of something. That can lead to seeing small mistakes as huge things that will ruin a person’s life.
When I was 15, I took in the things I would get criticized about and picture them in the future. 5, 10, 15, even 1 year from then it wouldn’t matter.
When you look at things as a tiny fraction of life you can determine whether they’re actually important or not.
4. Figure out how to deal with overwhelm.
Overwhelm is a feeling that will stop by us time and time again. Because it can lead to feeling stuck, unproductive, and sad, it’s important to figure out how you are able to slowly get out of it. Figure out your tactics.
Two of mine are to get small tasks done and clean out the clutter around me.
5. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
This is something I had to do continuously in every journey that I’ve endeavored. Pushing past discomfort is the only way to grow and get to where you want to be. Being uncomfortable may look like having to learn something you’re not familiar with or having to be somewhere you aren’t familiar with. Getting used to discomfort in a positive journey allows positive growth.
6. When you love something, give it space.
If I do something too often within a short period of time, it increases the possibility of exhaustion and boredom. So, no matter how much I love something, I don’t go full speed ahead.
7. Don’t immerse yourself in others.
In order to be my happiest, it’s super important to keep a balance between me-time and other-people-time. When I put so much attention into other people, guess what I was also signing up to give my attention to? The drama, the fights, and the disagreements.
Key Message: I learned a lot of things before adulthood in regards to learning about people, learning about myself, and dealing with a variety of issues. I’m glad I learned them young, as I find myself referring back to them often.
