23 Takeaways from 23 Years
In the past, my birthday has always happened around midterms and the end of soccer season. I never really had time to even think about my birthday or reflect on that year of life. I wish someone had told me just how much free time I was getting with my new post-college-full-time-job life, because with all this free time my mind has had probably too much freedom to wander into the past. So this year, as I’ve been enjoying my last few days of 22, I have been reflecting a lot on what I’ve learned, who I am, and what I want in the next year of life.
My type A personality naturally had me writing lists not long after all that. So here’s the first list: 23 takeaways from 23 years.
- Find loyal, and be loyal
Find your friends that are loyal. Keep them close.
Above all else, be loyal. Even when other people aren’t.
2. You don’t have to be flashy to be great
Just be great.
The only person that needs to know it is you.
3. Work hard and the rest will follow
It might take years of hard work, grit, and disappointments. But the success will come.
Be consistent, and you will win.
4. Nobody likes a whiner
My new boss said it right.
“If you are complaining to people, they don’t like you anyways. Shut up, and go do something about it.”
5. Life comes in chapters
Which means some characters will come and go. Supporting cast, main characters, antagonists, and so on.
Just because they exit one scene doesn’t mean they won’t return in a later one.
This is okay, and necessary for the story line to progress.
6. You have to lose to understand how to win
You’ll never truly understand what it takes, and how it feels, if you don’t lose first.
7. What you do when no one else is looking is important
If you can’t motivate yourself to work for something, you don’t want it bad enough.
8. No one will ever be able to control how you feel
Even when they say mean things, or lie, or hurt your heart. How you walk away from any situation will always be on your own terms.
9. Take time to feel
Especially the hard stuff. The longer you put it off the harder it gets.
But when you do, it will heal.
10. Sometimes distance is exactly what you need to come back
Time and distance always gives perspective.
A change in perspective can lend a new way of re-approaching the problem and making peace with your person.
11. The people around you should be better than you
Said by many people much wiser than me: you are a sum of the five people closest to you.
Choose them wisely.
12. Meditation cures anxiety
Anxiety used to suffocate me, literally. Usually around the first week of August when fitness tests were coming up.
Meditating a couple times a day saved me in so many ways. Now I meditate regularly, on gratitude, abundance, and happiness.
Try it once, as whole heartedly as you can. Then draw your own judgement.
13. Life never is, never was, and never will be fair
And that’s okay.
14. Honor your legacy
Honor the legacy that came before you.
Honor the legacy you are leaving.
All that you do should be in accordance with these.
15. See the bigger picture
When you feel like you can’t finish the paper, the worksheet, the project, or the day — remember what it’s all for.
Find your why, and focus on it intensely.
16. Hustle, but you’re allowed to binge watch Netflix every now and again
Breaks are important, for your mind and body.
17. Shoot your shot
Said by Shea Serrano.
Shoot. Your. Shot.
18. Apply for jobs/positions you aren’t qualified for
You’ll get call backs for a lot of them. You might fail at a few of them. But you will learn through all of them.
19. Prepare for the worst, expect the best
If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail.
20. Always give them the benefit of the doubt
Even if they don’t deserve it.
Empathy will win over judgment every time.
21. Take pictures
And don’t post them. Just save them, and smile at them years later.
22. Exercise at least three times a week
Find your zone, on the field, in the bags, on the bike, wherever.
But go there often and reenergize your heart, body, and soul regularly.
23. Write it out, fight it out, or run it out
When you have a problem, write about it.
If it’s important enough, so much that the thought of losing it would kill you, then fight for it.
And if you do lose it, run it out until all the hurt is gone and all you feel is the breath flowing through your body and the sweat on your face.
