To begin with, I'm a terribly inconsistent blogger. One of the items on my currently non-existent bucket list is to blog more often, but I'm scared no one's reading it. Sometimes the fear of saying something and no one caring is scarier than not saying it at all.
Anyway...if you're out there and listening, I have something important to say tonight, or at least, it's important to me.
My 23rd birthday is looming in the not-so-distant-distance. I can't believe that in less than two weeks, I'll be closer to a quarter-century old than a fifth-century. It seems a little unreal that while so much has happened in these first 23 years, I still feel like the best is yet to come. Here's hoping...
We often say that much of what you need to know in life, you learn in kindergarten. To an extent, that's definitely true. You learn to share. You learn to play well with others even if you don't necessarily like them a whole lot. You learn that certain lunch meats are better than others. You learn to raise your hand. You learn that naps are a valuable part of life and shouldn't be left out of a daily routine. You learn that with crayons and a piece of paper, nothing is unimaginable.
All of those things are important. They teach you some of life's greatest lessons.
But there are other important things that kindergarten can't prepare you for. There are some things that it takes living 23 years to figure out. Those things aren't as easy as sharing or coloring or taking naps.
One of the things kindergarten doesn't prepare you for is how to constructively handle the not-so-fun parts of life. I'm still trying to figure that out, myself. In recent weeks, I've begun discovering exactly how important it is to surround yourself with people who make you better and people who don't just claim to have your back, but people who care about seeing you become the best person you're capable of being.
For some reason, we have a tendency to allow people to come into our lives who don't have our well-being in mind. We let them control aspects of who we are, how we act, what we say and how we feel. We allow them to be the driving force. We care more about what they think than what is right.
I'm glad to finally recognize that there are too many of those people in my life. Not that everyone in my life is that way, but even if you only have one or two or three or six of those people in your life, that is one or two or three or six too many.
Fortunately, I've been able to look at these situations with a glass-half-full approach. Ultimately, none of these people will prevent me from being who I want to be. They will become insignificant. I will be capable of overcoming challenges they present, and I will become better for it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not ignorant. I would be lying if I said it was easy to sit back and let it all happen, but at this point, I'm assessing situations for what they are. I can't control these people, what they will say, or what they will do. What I can control is how I react to it.
I would also like to offer a message to everyone in how we treat one another. It sounds terrible cliche to use the Golden Rule, but there is truly no other single greatest rule as we coexist in this world together.
Treat others the way you would want to be treated.
It sounds so simple, but I believe it's the one thing we struggle with as a human race the most. I have certainly been guilty of not treating others the way I would like to be treated. When I think of certain things I've said or done, I know how it feels to have it done to me, and I can say with certainty, it's not good.
My current biggest objectives in my daily life are to remember that phrase and to truly treat others the way I would want to be treated. I want to be cognizant of the things I say. I want to think before I speak. I want to remember how it feels to be betrayed by a friend and in turn be a better friend to others. I want to understand the implications my actions have before deciding how to act.
I know I will never be perfect at any of these things, but I can only hope and pray that I can and will do better. I want to be the kind of friend that I want to have. I want to see the best parts of myself reflected in others, and I want to see the best parts of my true friends reflected in me.
It's a trying time at almost-23. There are days I wish I was napping and coloring again. But for each of those days, I know I will become stronger for having had them.
They don't teach you that in kindergarten. But maybe some of life's greatest lessons are reserved for 23-year-olds instead.
