7 Things 2017 Taught Me
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A lot of us can agree that 2017 was a complete nightmare and literally a disaster. Like the majority of the year, everything fell apart for me. Honestly, I’ve noticed a lot of people saying the same exact thing as I just did about it too. Which is why I’m looking so forward to this new year because it’s a fresh start and you can just leave all the drama and mess in 2017 and have a clean slate. So, if you guys want to know 17 things that 2017 Taught me, just keep reading.
- It’s okay to put yourself first. 99.9% of 2017, I spent thinking everyone else came first like I couldn’t say no without hurting other people. I would continuously put others before myself over and over again and sure I was making them happy, but was I happy in the end? No. In 2017 I made the mistake of putting others feelings first and not worrying enough about my own. Until around July maybe mid-June I started realizing my self-worth and how much more I deserve. Then I started thinking optimistically and changed my ways, I learned to say no and I learned to walk away from people who couldn’t learn to treat me right after so many chances. 2017 taught me to better myself, it made me stronger as a person and made me realize self-Love and my self-worth, that’s something that is honestly priceless.
- Sometimes, it’s okay to lose people or cut them out. Some people might think it’s heartless or wrong for you to do this but it’s not. When people keep treating you badly or negatively or just keep bringing negativity into your life, it is OKAY to cut them out. Yes, you might miss them for a bit but you won’t regret it in the end because you’ll feel Ten Times better and more positive whenever you don’t have them bringing you down all the time. It’s such a good feeling because you don’t have their bitterness in your life anymore talking about these negative things that could always happen or that always happens to them. If they can’t even be positive for a second of their life, they aren’t worth the precious time in yours. 2017 taught me it’s good to be happy, even if that means losing others to make yourself happy. It’s not selfish, at all, it’s not heartless, at all, it’s called self-love which we all need a little of because if you don’t have any self-love, how can someone else ever learn to love you if you haven’t learned to love yourself first?
- Think positive thoughts more often. I’ll be honest with you guys, 2016 I was so negative it was unreal and the beginning of 2017. Back then I was always completely depressed and anxious about every little thing. Since then and since 2017 I’ve grown so much and realized how much better it is to look on the positive side of everything. Sometimes, you can’t think positive and you have to be down every now and then but not all the time like I used to do to myself all of the time. It was terrible because I would just sit around and think nothing good was ever going to come to me. Once I stopped thinking these things though and this way, better things started happening, incredible things actually. I’ve seen things and been through things unimaginable, but I’m such a strong person now thanks to it all that I can just smile through even little thoughts of it. Because I keep my mind on the positive side now. It’s actually not as hard as it seems, you just have to find yourself first. One day though, you’ll get sick and tired of thinking so negative and down and then you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “I don’t want to feel this way anymore.” Then all of a sudden you just won’t. You’ll change your mindset and work on it every single day and you’ll feel ten times better.
- Stick to what you really want to do. Blogging is something I absolutely love doing, but I’ve spent so many days and weeks even just wasting away on pointless jobs and things I wasn’t happy doing at all. Writing is something that makes me happiest and something that I love to do. It’s the most therapeutic thing I’ve ever done. Yes sometimes it gets frustrating and yes sometimes I lose motivation but it’s what I really want to do. I think 2017 taught me to finally stick to it because nothing makes me as happy as writing and blogging does.
- Forgive yourself. Whatever it is from your past that you have done, you have to learn to forgive yourself. I know that seems impossible or way too hard to do but it’s possible I promise you. You have to forgive yourself in order to move on with your life and do better, bigger, and greater things. Whatever it was, forgive yourself for it and leave it in the past. It’s just another chapter in your book of life and we all have to deal with making mistakes, it’s a part of life and we’ve all made a few at least.
- You’re a lot stronger than you think. Sometimes it might feel like you're the weakest person in the world when you break down or when you feel like complete crap, but you aren’t. You are ten times stronger than you ever even could imagine. You’ve been through and seen things others probably couldn’t imagine and your still here today. That’s strength. You’ve stood back up in times you felt like you wanted to stay down forever or for the rest of your life and that is complete strength. It’s normal to feel like you aren’t strong or to say your not, but if you look back at all you’ve made it through, you are way stronger than you could ever imagine.
- Give it a few - 24 hours. Whatever it is that’s on your mind or that you feel like you’ll never get through, give it a few hours or a full 24 hours and bet you’ll be feeling ten times better. Usually, after you sulk it out for a bit or you just cry it out or even watch a good movie or spend a little time with family and friends, it’ll take it off your mind. Don’t stress about it, worry about it, or be too down about it because you have to remind yourself you won’t even be thinking about it by tomorrow.
- Have faith in yourself. If you don’t have faith in yourself, you’ll never get where you want to be. You have to have complete faith in yourself and believe in yourself, your goals, your dreams, and what you really truly want to do. If you believe, you can do anything in the world. Honestly, you could change the world all it takes is a little motivation and a ton of faith.
- Find yourself. One of the hardest journeys in life is finding yourself because there’s no telling when you will or how you will. You could be in your room getting ready to go out or just laying in bed thinking about life or the simplest things and find yourself or even just out with friends or something. The thing is once you find yourself, everything is so much better and so much clearer. Everything makes so much more sense and is so much easier because you know yourself, you know what you like and what you don’t. Finding yourself can be the best decision you’ve ever made. Plus, if you don't know yourself how is someone else going to be able to find you?
- Do more of what you love. Whether it be writing, drawing, playing a sport, it doesn’t matter whatever it is you love doing do more of it. The more you do these things, the better you’ll feel. They can have a huge positive effect on you and you’ll be more optimistic. Think about it, if you’re doing what you love your happy right? Which leads you to be more positive which ends up you being more optimistic in the end. Plus, you should always do the things that make you happiest in order to be happy.
- Love with everything you’ve got. Sometimes this can get you hurt, other times it can make you and others happy too. This can be hard, especially when someone hurts you but that’s when you, “Kill Em’ With Kindness” as Selena Gomez would say, lol. Because love is such a beautiful thing and you should always embrace it and love with everything you’ve got because love is what can make or break us. Literally love is what can make you happiest or make you fall apart. But if you love with everything you’ve got, it can make you happiest and the people around you.
- Don’t compare. Whether it’s your life, car, house, well-being, looks, whatever it is your comparing, don’t compare. Comparing is such a terrible game that we all tend to play because we see things others have that we want and we just compare it to them and just wish that we had it and it’s easy to feel that way. My Mom always taught me instead of saying, “I want that”, to say, “I hope someday I have one of those too.” Because saying you want something someone else has kind of seems selfish, and your less likely to have it unless you say you hope you have one of those one day too. Plus, then you can add it to your goals, work towards it, and eventually have one of your own. Comparing only makes you feel down about the things you have now and you should always be grateful for the things you have now and the things you could have in the future.
- Spread more positivity. We all know this world could use a lot more positivity. There are so many people and things that are so negative these days and it’s good to just spread positivity. Smile when you walk by a stranger, even if they don’t smile back you can say hey at least I was nice enough to smile. Say something nice to your family member or friend that’s having a bad day. Help someone in need even if it’s just helping an older person load groceries into their car or unloading them from the car. It’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. My Mom has also always taught me that if you help someone in need you’ll eventually be rewarded for it. Always do good things, and you’ll get good things in return.
- Stop checking the time. Find something to get lost in whether it be reading, writing, drawing, anything that you like to do stop checking the time just get lost in it and act like time doesn’t exist. It’s good to do this every now and then because you’ll just take everything off your mind and you won’t be in a rush, and it’s way therapeutic.
- Set a goal, but don’t be afraid to forget about it. If you set a goal and you end up changing your mind about it, don’t be afraid to forget about it or abandon it. We’re only human and we change our minds all the time. It’s normal to feel this way. If you feel like the goal isn’t meant for you anymore, forget about it.
- Focus only on the things you can control. If you can’t control it, don’t worry about it. There’s no need in stressing yourself out over things that you can’t change. If you can’t change it there’s no need to stress yourself about it because it’ll never change anyway. Let it go and move on with your life no matter how hard it may seem at the time.
- Wake yourself up! Do more of what makes you happy and live in the moment more often. If you find you're not happy then wake yourself up and figure out the cause and just be happy! You deserve happiness just as everyone else does. Wake up and find your source of happiness, don’t waste any more time being down and negative. 2018 is going to be a good and positive year!
The world is full of magic and if you get up and get to it it’s all yours.
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