Lesson Learned - Happy New Year!

2012 was a big year for me, now that I think about it. I started a new job. I got accepted into my choice college. I graduated high school. I began college (I'm only one semester in, so I'm sure this list below is bound to expand at one point or another). I met a few friends. I lost a few friends.

 But the biggest thing that happened was that I learned is that life rarely turns out the way you plan it. Most of the time our plans are just that - plans. It's strange to think that this time last year I was a senior in high school who'd just finished applying to college. If you asked me then where I thought I'd be right now, I would've told you I'd be sharing a studio apartment with a couple roommates in downtown Chicago working on my bachelor's degree in journalism, that life would be great.

Instead, I'm working on an associates degree at community college with the intentions to transfer to a four-year-school to get my bachelor's degree afterwords. I'm still working five days a week washing dishes at a local family owned restaurant in my home town. I still live under the same roof I've lived under my entire life. In that sense, much of my life is still the same.

While applying to college, I was so excited of the thought of living in the city, which would be totally different than the safe suburban neighborhood I've grown so used to. I had just paid my tuition fee when I changed my mind and thankfully got my money back.

Do I regret my decision to stay at home for another two years or so until I get an Associate of Arts degree? No, I really don't. I'm definitely saving a lot of  money by living at home and attending community college first as apposed to living six hours away from my family in the city. Although now that I think about it, my life would've definitely been different if I would've done just that - move out on my own with only a few grand saved away from working part-time in high school. But I've also learned to be perfectly content with where I'm at and with what I've got. And I really am.

Sure, going to community college wasn't my first intention, but I do think it'll be worth it in the long run. At first, I kind of scrunched my nose at the idea, and wasn't very excited about it. But the more I think about it, even now, I realize that aside from cutting a couple thousand dollars from college expenses (and college is very expensive), I also get a little more time to spend with my family. I do have my parents, four brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, and two nieces that I might not get to see as often if I lived six hours away. I'm currently learning to appreciate what I've got, while I've got it, and to stop living in the past. The best you can do is to learn from the past and move on with the current life God has blessed you with.

 I can hope I'll get to that vision of how I'd like things to be in my head eventually (because that, honestly, is my biggest problem nine times out of ten. I get these images and visions of how I'd like things to be, and when they don't work out just like that, I tend to want to give up). The only thing I know for sure these days is that I don't know much of anything. I don't know exactly what I'm doing. I don't know exactly where I'm going, or where I'll end up five to ten years from now. But I do hope that I'll be living a full life, doing work that I love, and be surround by people that I love. I'm willing to start at the bottom. And I know I can rest assured that God has a plan for my life. Just because I can't see how my life is going to unfold, doesn't give me any reason to give up on my passions. That's no excuse to for me to stop living a full life, or to stop running the race to which my Creator has called me (Ephesians 4:1).

I've felt like I was going nowhere before. I've felt like I've hit rock bottom. But the way I see it, once you hit rock bottom, you have nowhere to go but up, up and away.

I've compiled a list of things I've learned thus far. Things that make my life just a little different in a sense.

•  Life rarely turns out the way you plan it.
• You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
• No matter how much you care, some people just don't care back.
• It takes years to build up trust, but only seconds to destroy it.
• No matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides to every story.
• It's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be, and to get where I want to go. 
• It's a lot easier to react than it is to think. 
• You can keep going long after you think you can't. 
•  I’m not cool, and I’m cool with that.
• Money is a lousy way of keeping score. 
• If you find yourself swimming with all the other fish, go the other way. They don’t know where they’re going either (thank you, Mayans).
• The hardest goodbyes are the ones that are never said nor explained. 
• Change is the only permanent thing in life.
• Fitness doesn't happen overnight.  
• Being a night owl is a difficult habit to break (I'm still working on it). 
• My best friend and I can do anything or nothing at all and have the best time. 
• It's okay to make mistakes. That's how you learn. I'd rather have to many "oh well"s than "what if"s.  
• Writer’s block is overrated. Look around you! Inspiration is everywhere.
• Bad things do happen to good people.
• Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
• Curiosity may have killed the cat, but losing it altogether kills the spirit.
• High school made me realize friends can turn to strangers in an instant. 
• No matter how good a friend someone is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while.
• No matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
• Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
• Take criticism, ignore critics. Smart people will give you ways in which you can improve constructively. Other people will tell you about everything you're doing wrong, and that you're an idiot. Ignore the latter. 
•  True friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distances.
•  Though I hate to admit it, a condom is the glass slipper for our generation. You slip one on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night, and then you throw it away.
•  Some relationships are like glass. It’s better to leave it broken, than to hurt yourself more by trying to put it back together. 
• Choose your relationships wisely. I'd rather be alone than in bad company.  
• I've still got a lot to learn. 

*May everyone apply these lessons to their lives and have a blessed New Year!