14 Things I've Learned In 14 Years

YOU GUYS IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I'M KIND OF FREAKING OUT. LIKE AHHHHHH. As you can tell from my past posts on the subject birthdays make me pretty happy. I'm officially 14 which means I can now technically watch tv-14 shows and it's pretty great. When your reading this me and my family should be going to New Orleans to spend the weekend for one of my dad's conferences. As of when I'm writing this I'm pretty excited. :) Today I thought in honor of this special day I would share 14 things I've learned in my 14 years of life!

1. The world and everyone around you aren't personally out to get you. When I was younger I thought everytime someone did something annoying it was because they wanted to be annoying to me specifically. In some cases that was true (aka my siblings a lot of the time) but most of the time it wasn't. I remember just staring at someone as they were doing something that annoyed me and thinking about how they knew I didn't like it and was doing it anyway so why ask them to stop? That makes zero sense. If someone is being annoying ask them to stop! You either never told them you didn't like it or they just forgot. People have extremely bad memories sometimes (aka me every day haha).

2. Community and having friends that make you happy is everything. I just love being around people, and having a community I can go to and that actually love me is so important to me. When I'm in a new situation I can get super nervous but if I have a friend? It's a million times better. 

3. Time management and being organized is so important!! If you actually manage your time efficiently you can get soooo much more stuff done then you ever thought possible. For example, with school, I have an agenda where I write down all my homework and stuff. If I didn't have that I might actually go crazy. I am alllllways forgetting what needs to be done so writing it down is kind of a lifesaver. 

4. You can't do everything. You just can't. And yes it's ok to say no to things sometimes. I realized this school year that I really really want to do everything. I want to be the president of the student council and of NJHS and I want the lead in the play while taking two high school credit courses. Is that at all possible though? No. No, it's not. You have to choose the things you genuinely like doing over the other stuff or you won't have time for anything at all. 

5. Even if you're not the best at something if you participate and try to learn it will be ok. Aka theatre for me. Some people have this natural skill for things like school and theatre. That's pretty helpful. But if they don't apply themselves and actually try they will get absolutely nowhere in life. Ever. They will always pick the nice person over the talent. 

6. Don't be afraid to let people know you. And your opinions. And the things you liked. I sometimes have a hard time telling people things I enjoy doing or watching or reading because I'm afraid they will judge me especially if the thing isn't that popular. I have been opening up more though and seriously the friendships that can be made over liking the same musician (aka Dodie in my case) is kind of mind-blowing. If you don't let yourself express yourself you're just going to be another mindless drone.

7. You have to let yourself get into things. I am extremely good at getting totally into things and enjoying things and honestly, it's a skill. I think some people hold back their excitement or maybe just tell themselves it's not that cool. WELL GUESS WHAT IT IS COOL AND YOU'RE HAVING AN AMAZING TIME. Just tell yourself that. It works a lot more then you would think. This goes along with the whole positive thing. 

8. When I stress over things I mess up. I've noticed in the past that if I'm supposed to say something maybe on the announcements (which is something I do at school I know I'm cool) and I go over it over and over again it is actually more likely for me to mess up. I noticed this recently and I'm not sure why it is but I thought it was interesting. 

9. Sometimes people are meant to leave your life. I've been super lucky so far and I haven't lost/lost touch with that many people. I have lost a couple friends and other people in my life if it's we just don't talk anymore or they moved. It's hard. There are some people and friends that might be in your life that just aren't supposed to be. 

10. You always have to take a break from social media every once in a while. Especially for me since I'm boring, blogging is basically what I do in my free time. I'm weird but it's ok. That means I'm always thinking about my next insta post and getting back to that person and getting that done on time and it can be a lot. Especially because there is so much stuff that can be done and no ones regulating me so I just want to do absolutely everything. Sometimes a break is needed to just chill.

11. Wear something that makes you feel cute. I also mentioned this in my post on how to have a happier more productive day but it's kind of crazy how much wearing something that makes you feel good can have an effect on your day. 

12. Music can do so so much. The amount of friends I've made over the shared love of an artist is crazy. Music can change someone's day, it can set the mood, it can make people think, and it can literally save them from so many things. Music is fascinating and beautiful and something to be celebrated. 

13. Habits are one of the hardest things to break and that's also why there super important to start. Bad habits can be sooooooo annoying. Maybe it's you bite your nails or always wake up at 5 in the morning. But that also goes for good habits and why you need to start things like exercising and having a good study plan at an early age. 

14. Knowing what's happening in the world is really important. For my broadcast class, you have to know current events and because of that, I've been looking at the news even more than normal. If you don't know what's happening you can't make good decisions and also I believe you can't have opinions if you don't have the whole story. 

That just turned into like an essay sorry y'all haha sorry! If you actually read all of that then props to you!!

What's something you've learned that has really stuck with you? What's your birthday? How old are you?