Quotes, Anecdotes and Other Life Lessons from My Still Young Life
It’s never too early or late to reflect
As I grow older and one inch closer to entering the adult world, I often reflect on the choices I’ve made, the words I’ve spoken, and the lessons I’ve learned.
Reflection is essential to improving yourself. Before you can truly step into the future, you must analyze the past, looking at where you went wrong and how you could have done better.
So, today I’ll be journaling my experiences on the highway known as life, chronicling to you some quotes that have positively affected me and other life experiences that changed my perspective for the better. Even though I am still very young, reflection is not something tied to age. We start reflecting on our actions at even the most basic or elementary levels. You’re never too young or old to reflect on what you’ve been through.
So let’s take a ride!
Put Yourself Out There
It was a cool summer night, and my father and I were sitting on his back porch in Augusta, GA, watching and listening to the sprinkler as it shot water all over the freshly placed sod.
We were having a conversation about life. I was asking him about one of the things that most people have trouble talking about, and that was regrets.
When I asked my father this, he paused for a second and then answered. His answer spoke volumes to me. He said:
“I try not to have regrets in life, but if I had to have one, it would be that I didn’t put myself out there when I was your age. You need to put yourself out there for all to see son. If you want something so deeply, so badly in life, then you have to work towards it and never give up. You’re going to get more no’s than yes’s, but that should only make you want it more.”
That really stuck with me. If I wanted to become the person that I wanted to be in life, I have to work for it and refuse to let anyone keep me down. I have to be assertive and non-agreeable. I’m definitely capable of accomplishing it, but I need to put myself out there, take calculated risks, and be the master of my own destiny.
Everyone is capable of accomplishing great things, but often the difference between those that don’t and those that do is taking action.
You Can't Control Everything and That’s Ok
Someone once told me that you only control 1% of the things in your life. Another said it was around 3%. It’s all semantical really, considering that you still barely control anything in your life. You still can’t control what you want most in life, like the people around you, and that’s ok. Because what you do control is really important.
You might not be able to control the people around you, what they say and do, or the outcome of any given situation, but you do control how you present yourself, whether it be to your friends or an employer. You also control your attitude in life, along with your outlook on your life and the world as a whole.
Attitude is everything. Think about it like this. If every letter in the alphabet stood for a number. (so A is 1, B is 2, C is 3, see where I’m going with this?) Then the word “knowledge” adds up to 96%, “hard work” adds up to 98%, but “attitude”? It adds up to 100%. Both totals of “knowledge” and “hard work” are very, very close to 100%, but fall just a little bit short.
“Attitude” is the determining factor in success. Think positively and have a great attitude and you have a better chance of succeeding. Be pessimistic and you fall just short of what you want, even with hard work and knowledge put in.
Don’t take Silly Things so Seriously and Let It Go
They say that life is short, and it is. It goes by in the blink of an eye. One day you wake up and you’re 16, ready to go into your junior year of high school. You wake up seemingly the next morning and you’re 23 and in college.
Time flies by.
I’ve noticed that even now, I wake up every morning a day closer to the rest of my life, and it’s scary, very scary. That’s life for you though. So, with such a short life, with so much to accomplish and experience, don’t take silly things so seriously.
It’s something that I myself still struggle with frequently. I’ve always been a very sensitive person and I always will be. I take everything personally, even just a little, harmless jokes my family throws at me, and I shouldn’t. To me, if you take everything seriously, even the little joke that your significant other or friend makes to you, then it undermines the situations and words that you should actually take seriously.
Not to bring back old memories from 2013, *cough, cough Frozen, Elsa, cough, cough* But in all seriousness, let it go. Obviously somethings can’t be let go so easily, sometimes it can’t be let go at all, and I feel for the people in those situations. This is the advice meant for smaller, silly things, like little jokes and jabs that aren’t meant to upset you. Holding on to that anger and resentment can make your life unhappy. I used to hold onto everything. I would harp on every upsetting word that someone said to me. Trust me, it’s no way to live.
Life is really short, too damn short in fact. So have fun, relax and loosen up a little. Don’t take everything so personally and seriously. Let go of your past grudges and just live. Take it from the band Oasis, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”.
As I grow and develop and eventually become the person I’m going to be for the rest of my life, I will always remember what I went through in my life, especially in my younger years. I will remember the people who stuck out the most to me, people that I still remember to this day. Those people have taught me something important, like my father, my mother, and my friends.
Life is complicated. It’s beautiful and yet harsh and cruel. It’s not a perfect place for everybody, for anybody in fact. Anything, even the harshest of life lessons, that can make the long-term journey more productive, peaceful or enjoyable, is worth going through to me. I will always remember the mistakes I made along the highway known as life and what I learned from them. If I learn nothing, then I can never evolve past those mistakes. I can never move on and be at peace at the end of the day.
