happy birf-day!

Today is my 22^nd birthday. While a big birthday fuss is not for me, I am grateful for the opportunity every year to acknowledge how much I’m growing up. I know twenty-two isn’t that old and that I have a long ways to go. However, I’m glad to be smarter than I was a year ago – I’ve definitely learned a thing or two since then. Hopefully, as I continue to stumble my way through life, my ability to grasp a hold of life’s lessons will exponentially increase.

In honor of time passing, I wrote a list of twenty-two things I’ve learned about life so far. Ready?

1. THE CHURCH IS TRUE.

2. Family is a lot like gravity. They keep you grounded by pulling you towards the noble and righteous things in life. You can search the world high and low only to find that nobody attracts you quite like your family members do in terms of life philosophies and sense of humor.

Nobody will calm your nerves like your dad can.

Nobody will be as reliable as your mom.

Nobody will make you laugh like your brothers do.

And nobody will make you feel as special as your little sister does.

Promise.

3. TV will melt your brain, waste your time, and lower your morals. So monitor what you watch.

4. Don’t follow the crowd. I wish I had really understood as a kid how neat it is to be an individual. I was always so quick to conform – or to pretend to conform – to the crowd because it pained me to stand out in any way. I had original ideas, but I was too shy to do anything about them.

5. A really bad day can be fixed with one – or a combination of – the following three things:

A nap

Several pieces of French toast

A drive to nowhere and back

6. Most things are a means to an end. School ends with a degree. Summer jobs end with money in your pocket. Dating ends with marriage. If you want to reach the end you have to suck up the present – even when you hate it.

7. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Reevaluate and revise them often.

8. Find something to laugh out loud about everyday – even if you’re by yourself.

9. Never leave your laundry, your homework, or your Sunday School lesson to the last minute.

10. I wish I kept a consistent journal. Somebody asked me the other day what I did last Thanksgiving… and I couldn’t remember. How sad is that?

11. I am scared to death of:

Snakes

The premature death of a family member

Marrying the wrong person

Never getting married at all

12. It’s okay to have a quirk or two. Don’t hide things from the people you date. Don’t think they’ll only like you if you behave a certain way or like certain things. If they can’t take you as you are – quirks and all – they don’t deserve to be with you.

13. Rough days and weeks end sooner than you think they will. Sometimes life gets so busy that you wonder how you’ll get everything done. Sometimes you get so physically ill that you wonder what it felt like to be healthy. Sometimes life kicks you square in the gut and you wonder how you’ll ever breathe again. But, somehow, you move on and things get better. Remember: nothing bad lasts forever.

14. Read and write as much as possible. And use proper grammar when you type emails and send text messages. It’s an attractive thing to do – not to mention more effective and efficient.

15. I love the way I feel:

When I’m in the country

When I’m apart of a standing ovation

When I exceed my own expectations

When I cuddle with a cute boy

When I get a couple hours of alone time

At Christmastime

16. Nothing will propel you through life faster than hard work. Make your bosses proud. Impress your teachers. Work hard now. Play a little later. You will reap the benefits.

17. The friends that stick with you through thick and thin deserve to be on a pedestal. They aren’t there because you hand picked them from the crowd. They are there because they’ve proved themselves reliable and trustworthy time and again. They are there because they constantly reach out to you – not because you initially reached out to them. They are the best friends to have. Hold tight – they don’t come around very often.

18. Don’t do anything to ever disappoint your parents. They always end up being right – so skip the part where you defy what they say and learn life’s lessons the hard way. It’s so much easier to take their word for it.

19. Money affects your happiness. When money is tight, life sucks. So save your pennies.

20. Be careful of what you expect from other people – not everyone will live up to your expectations. Friends won’t call back. Boys will end relationships sooner than you dreamed. Classmates will slack off on group projects. Learn to be flexible in your expectations – you’ll save yourself a lot of disappointment.

21. Some expectations, however, should never be compromised. Don’t ditch class because you don’t feel like attending. You’re expected to be there – so be there. Don’t kiss a boy just because he asks or tries to. You’re expected to be honest – so be honest. Don’t lie. You’re expected to have integrity – so have integrity.

22. Pray. Everyday. And things will work out.

Image found here.