Sixteen things I've learned being sixteen
Hello everybody!
Since I’m celebrating
my 17th birthday today, on January 31st, I decided to
share with you some of the things I’ve learned being 16. Of course I’ve learned
a lot more, but the list would be endless if I wrote everything- I can’t even
believe so much has happened in such a short time as 16 years.
Listen to your mother
I had to write this
as a number one, because we all often underestimate mother’s opinion. But let’s
face it- they are almost always right. I don’t know why I always think I know more
than a woman who has experienced so much more than I have. In my defence- we
learn from mistakes, right?
Best friends exist
I’m hearing from
people my age all the time, that there is no such thing as ‘bff’. As there’s an
age limit for when you meet your real friends. I’ve been best friends with
Katja for 5 years, with Saša for 14 years and I’ve been friends with Ajda for 2
years. It’s true- I don’t know if we’ll be friends in 20 years from now, but if
I’d have to guess, I’d say there’s a big chance we’ll be ‘friends forever’. You
just have to find friends you share your interests with.
Don’t overthink everything
That’s actually an
advice for me too, as I literally overthink everything- how I behave, what I
do, what I say, what grades I get in school... But I’ve learned not to
overthink unimportant things that don’t drastically affect my life.
Don’t take other’s opinion too personal
You sometimes have to
hear some constructive criticism, so you can develop personally, but don’t take
everyone’s opinion too personal. Those people are often just too disappointed about their life and
all they do is making opinion about people they don’t even know. I admit-
other’s opinion still affects me sometimes (being called small all the time
sucks), but I’ve learned to build walls around me.
Have fun
Enjoying life while
being young is okay and so is having fun. Even if you embarrass yourself sometimes
(or all the time like me), that’s perfectly fine- those kind of moments are the
moments that make your life so much more interesting. And those are the moments
you’ll remember when you’ll be old. Can’t wait to see what kind of
moments I’ll make posts about when I’ll be 70 years old- being optimistic :).
Travel, try new food, meet new people, do new and
exciting things
I travel as much as
my finances allow me. But one of my biggest dreams is to travel, be adventurous
and spontaneous, even if that means only taking car trips to the nearest
countries. I’ll be at least able to say I haven’t lived a boring life.
Think about the future
Even if you’re 16,
your motto should not be ‘yolo’. Think about the future, even if only a couple
of years, months or just weeks in advance. It’s totally fine to sometimes go
with the flow, but you still should have some plans for the future and don’t
act like a child all the time. Just in case if you don’t get to marry a
billionaire who would buy you three cars and you’ll actually have to work to
get money.
Cats will always stand by your side
If you feel like
something’s missing in your life, just buy a cat. Cats will always stand by your
side and they’re an excellent company- of course if you feed them all the time.
Everyone needs at least one (or twenty, you can choose) cute fluffy cat in
their life.
If you can’t stop thinking about it...buy it
If you really really
really want something, then buy it now or cry later. I’m quite rational when it
comes to buying things and I buy a bit more expensive things only if I want
them for more weeks or months. But every now and then you can still buy a piece
of clothing, perfume, bag you know you won’t even use. Just to look so damn good on
your shelf.
Make others happy
Make others happy all
the time. Smile at people, say hello, help them with anything, talk to them. Little
things like that will make them happy, but it will also be a lot easier for you to find your inner happiness.
Do good and good will come to you
If you do good, good
will come to you, there’s nothing more to say.
Relax and don’t stress too much
It seems that stress
literally controls my life and I feel like I can’t even relax. But it’s good to
read an interesting book from time to time, watch that old cartoon you used to
watch when you were little and just do nothing. I can’t even express how
much I appreciate those kind of moments.
Learn to accept yourself
This is probably one
of the hardest things in my life. Learning to accept myself is still in
progress, but I really hope I’ll be able to like my body/ thinking/ personality
soon, because this restricts me from doing so many new things, meeting new
people, talking to people and staying in touch with them.
Appreciate what you have
Appreciate everything
you have and never take anything for granted. I’ve appreciate what I’ve had
since I was little and I know my parents work really hard to buy my sister and
me new clothes, to buy food and daily supplies, take us to different trips. I
know they often didn’t had enough money, but they still bought us that toy that
every kid in our school had. So it actually annoys me so much when some teenagers
from which I except a certain level of maturity literally cry because they got
a black iphone instead of the white one (this is only a generalized example, I certainly
don’t have such an opinion on every teenager).
Crying is okay
You should definitely
cry your tears out every now and then. I always keep all the bad things in
myself for so long and then I suddenly explode and cry for hours and hours. I’ve
always thought that crying makes me worthless, inept and somehow I believed
that ‘big girls don’t cry’. I still don’t like if anyone sees me at my bottom,
when I’m completely out of control over myself and my emotions.
Past is the past
Never stress over the
things that have happened in the past. You’ll forget about them sooner or later
and they’re definitely not worth worrying about them. I’ve learned that things
from the past are never worth your time, you should focus on the future and
make sure you do your best at anything.
As you can see, I had
to get a lot off my chest during the last minutes as a sixteen year old. I can definitely
say I’ve learned so many things in those 16 years and I can’t wait to learn
more. And even though I’d like to be forever 16, I know I still have to
accomplish so many things, explore the environment in which I live in and I
have to develop in so many different areas. And I actually can’t wait to do all
that!
