10 things I’m happy I tried and learned before I was 23

Hello my beauties! I hope your week is going good, just been super stressed with school these days, but hey…. almost done and it’s my reading week!  I thought I would write this blog post today on “10 things I’m happy I tried and learned before I was 23”. I have been feeling really inspired lately to write posts based on my personal life or just advice that I have in general. I have been laying off the beauty posts recently because let’s face it… I am poor and can’t afford all that beauty shenanigans right now so bare with me okay?! Alright let’s jump right into it! Throughout life, everyone goes through obstacles, ones that are good and some well not so much. Usually sooner or later, we learn things the hard way but hey that’s how we learn right!?

1). Keeping friends in your life who shouldn’t be given that second chance– Throughout your life you are going to come across many different friends who will love and cherish you! Although we are constantly meeting new people each day, we don’t often sit down to think if certain ones should stay apart of your life for the long run. Over the years and from personal experience, I have become friends with certain people who I thought at the time were great. I enjoyed hanging out with them, and loved spending time with them.  I kept this certain “person” in my life for a few years, thinking everything was great and dandy. Boy was I wrong! This so called “friend” took a drastic turn and basically made my life a living hell. They probably should not have been in my life as long as they were, and thinking back now I wish I would’ve made that decision sooner before more damage was done. Luckily now I do not associate with this person, and I am happy I do not have that negative/and bad influence of energy pulling me down. Friends are supposed to love, cherish and support you no matter what. They should never bully you, turn against you, and make each day a negative one! Although this was an awful experience to go through, it now makes me more aware of what kind of friends I want within my life.

2) Going through that rough heartbreak– Let’s face it, we have all been there and done that within our lives. Is it a nice feeling? Hell absolutely not! But it happens and we can only learn from it! Over the years of my life I have gone through multiple heart breaks and breakups, some more bearable than others. Although I hated going through these at the time, I am then again happy that I went through them. I am now getting better and holding myself together, moving on, and developing coping strategies to  get myself up on my own two feet. During my first break up, I was so devastated that I really did not know what to do. After experiencing more over the years, I am now a stronger girl who can hold it together okay. I now know exactly what I want in a relationship and what I will not settle for.

3) Finally landing a job in a child-related work place– When that initial add popped up for the Day Care position I was extremely hesitant. I was thinking in my head ” this is completely different than the other jobs I have had in the past”. Sure I absolutely love children, and I am in a Child and Youth Program at my school, but I have only really worked within the fast food industry. Looking back to that really scary interview day, I am super proud of myself for taking the time to apply. Was it an easy interview? No. Was I calm and relaxed? Absolutely not. Was I completely out of my comfort zone? YES. Am I proud that I went in to talk to two individuals for 30 minutes of my day? 100%. I accomplished getting through a fancy interview. I accomplished working in a day care where the supervisor had given me a heads up it wasn’t an easy day care to work at. I got to gather that experience working with children one on one, and I wouldn’t take that back for a second.

4) I failed one of my University exams– So in my first year of university, I really did not know how the course load was going to be. I was completely awakened by how much work you needed to do in order to keep your grades up. When my first set of exams came, I sat in that huge room with all those chairs and felt my heart sink out of my bum. I could not believe how intense the room was to write these exams! After receiving my exam and beginning it, I knew right away I was completely screwed.  I hardly knew any of the answers and just sat there. You know when you try to bull shit answers and think to yourself ” okay you got this, that sounds good”? Yeah well I tried to do that, but ended up failing so bad. After receiving the lowest mark I ever got on an exam, this gave me an extreme wake up call. In a sense I am glad I got to experience that because now I know that I had to work harder if I wanted to stay within this atmosphere. I certainly picked up my act let’s just say!

5) I got black out drunk– So really not too long ago when I come to think of it, I had drank a little too much let’s just say. I never really thought that I would ever get black out drunk but yes it did eventually happen.  In a sense I am glad I got to experience this before the age of 23 because it certainly is not a nice experience to encounter!  After these situations did happen I made some poor choices towards my boyfriend which ended up in arguments, and felt like complete crap the next day! Will I be drinking that much again? Absolutely not. These days I make sure I am better control of my drinks, so I don’t end up in bad situations.

6) I took the time to figure out who I was– Over the years, especially within high school, I literally had no idea who I was. I struggled for the longest time to fit in, and just wanted to be included. I did not know what my hobbies were, or who my true friends were during that time. Over my university years, I have gathered a better understanding of who I am as an individual, tried new things such as blogging, made some new friends who are extremely valuable in my life, and took the time to figure out what I love about myself.

7) I trusted myself and my gut instinct– So about two years ago, I went through an extremely bad breakup with my ex. I kept thinking that things would get better, and that he deserved a second chance. I finally woke up one day  to realize and question to myself ” what are you doing, you are not even happy!?”.  I knew deep in my heart that I could not see a future with this guy whatsoever. I followed my gut feeling and ended everything. After another year had passed I had been talking to one of my good guy friends for quite some time. I knew for a fact that I was physically attracted to the guy, and I loved his personality. I basically kept him in the friend zone for quite some time, scared to commit to him. After talking to friends and family for quite some time about this whole situation, I came to my senses to give this guy a chance. Sure I completely felt scared that I would get hurt again, or that I would find the wrong person, but I decided to date him.  After a year now I can proudly say this was the best decision of my life, and to never second guess your gut instincts.

8)I faced my demons– So within my second year of university I was faced with a bunch of pills on my bed, contemplating my life. I grew tired over the years of struggling with my anxiety, and did not know how to properly treat it. During these times I did not know I was diagnosed with general anxiety, so I would often think something was wrong with me, or I was often jealous of how other people got off easier than I did. I faced my anxiety one on one through multiple therapy sessions, a hospital visit, and medication I take now on a daily basis. Instead of pushing this mental illness to the side, I am facing it one on one, and I know that I am stronger than him.

9) I pushed myself out of my comfort zone– There were two occasions where I can remember clear as day how I was pushed out of my comfort zone. At the time I absolutely hated it no doubt about it. When I look back at it, I am glad certain people helped push me and I am proud that I pushed myself. Within highschool, there was this specific teacher that I had who liked to push me. He loved to get his students’ opinions on certain things, but somehow always managed to call on me, even though my hand was never raised. I was that type of student, and still am today, where I like to sit at the back and just listen, you will never see my hand raised. The first time he called on me, I could feel the sweat start to drip down my back, because I hated having that much attention on myself. I of course, stated what I wrote down for the questions he was asking, and read out my answers. The second day I did not raise my hand, and just was waiting for other students to talk. Of course what happened again? He called on me to answer. So again, I stated my answer, and they were actually decent answers, I just hated speaking out loud.  After class finished that day I thought to myself, “what is more embarrassing? Being called on without your hand being raised, or knowing the answer and offering to state it?”. I thought long and hard about this question and came to the conclusion that I was going to start raising my hand for that class. I secretly think my teacher knew that I had good answers, and knew that I could push myself. I am really thankful that he did that to me. Another incident happened in University when I was entitled to do a debate in my seminar against another student. First of all, let me just start off by saying I absolutely hate doing debates. I am that type of girl who needs everything written down, and I am not really good at coming up with certain things on the spot. Ever. I had an overwhelming amount of anxiety for this presentation, and I knew it accounted for a lot of my grade. So I decided to work hard on it. I wanted to be fully prepared for my presentation and rehearsed it numerous of times. When it came time for my presentation I thought to myself that morning ” Are you going to let your anxiety get the best of you? I think not! You worked your ass off for this presentation, so finish it was a bang, you got this”. I am so proud that I tried my absolute best for my nerves not to get the best of me. I am so happy the presentation is done and over with, but I can say I did it.

10) I learned to let go of my past– Of course, everyone has something in their past that may bother them, or it may be hard to let go. I finally have started learning how to let things in my past brush aside, and move past me. When it came to relationships I could never let things go such as “assuming every guy treated you the same way” or ” something a guy did that hurt you tremendously”. I held onto this like a weight on my shoulders, and always carried that “what-if” aspect. What I have learned is that in order to live a happy life, you need to let things go no matter how painful they may be. Trust me, there are certain times where I just want to punch a person out because I am so mad at what they did to me, but what would that solve? Are they worth keeping in your life? Is it better to try to work things out? These are the questions you need to ask yourself.  I have learned that every guy is different, you just need to let go of the past relationships, and focus on the new one you are entering. This is a fresh start, go into it with an open mind.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed my blog post for this week, be sure to follow my page for new ones every week! Thanks for reading my beauts!

Much love xo.