What I've Learned in My First 20 Years
I am in my last hour of my teenage years, and I can’t help but reflect back on the first 20 years of my life. Through the ups, the downs, and the middle grounds, I have learned a fair amount of things. I have taken big risks for big payoffs and bigger mistakes, and there are a few things I would tell my younger self:
- Stop caring. How much energy do we waste every day caring about what other people think about how we look, what we do, what we say? How much energy do we waste looking at our follower counts on Twitter or who liked our pictures on Facebook? STOP IT. STAHP. At the same time…
- Care a lot. Apathy is not cool. Care about something! I love acting. I love it so much. I will never downplay how much I love that. Nor will I downplay my love for my dog. Or my friends. Nor will I deny myself should I want to talk to someone just because they might think I’m clingy or something. OH DEAR LAWD THEY MAY THINK I LIKE THEM. But I do like them and want to talk to them, so why wouldn’t I? Care, guys, but not about things that hurt you or are counterintuitive to what you want to do.
- Love everyone. Love easily. Love a lot. Some people are afraid of that word. Some people are saving that word for someone special, which I get. But there are so many types of love, and everyone deserves at least one of them. Love everybody. It’s going to make you a better person in the end.
- Be proud of yourself. Loving everyone extends to yourself, too. Be proud of the person you are. If you find that you don’t like yourself very much, you have the power and the responsibility to yourself to change it. In the darkness of your room at 3 a.m., you are the only person that you have. You gotta love that person, man. You just do.
- Help people. Reach out a hand and help your fellow man. Lend a hand to those less fortunate than you are. Give a dollar to the homeless man on the street who smiled at you today. Laugh at your professor’s silly joke. Support your friends and acquaintances. Do things for other people. It’ll say a lot more about you.
As I leave teenager-dom behind, I look forward to making the next 20 years even better than the last. I am learning every day, and I hope you will, too. Happy birthday to me!