26 Life Lessons Learned by 26. Lets See.

I recently came upon this article on facebook - 26 Life Lessons Learned by 26 - http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/02/06/26-life-lessons-learned-by-age-26/ 



I just started reading this article and, well lets just see how many of these I actually learned by 26. Lets see how many I've learned by 32: 


1. Being an adult can be fun when you are acting like a child. 
              The zoo. I want to go to the zoo. I don't care what zoo, or where that zoo is. I just want to go. I want to roll down a hill of freshly cut grass over and over again. I want to lay on the ground looking up at the clouds and pretending what they look like. I want to play outside till the street lights come on. I want to eat cotton candy and snow cones while watching the elephants at the circus. Rollerskating. We went rollerskating for the first time in years. It hit me that we were adult rollerskating when we put the keys in the ignition to drive ourselves home. But, for that time that we were roller skating, it was like being a child all over again..and it was SO worth it! *Lesson Learned..and SO much fun while learning it!*

2. Love has nothing to do with looks, but everything to do with time, trust, and interest. 
              I think that this lesson is easier to learn the older you get. Sure, you have to have that attraction to someone initially, but I think so many people confuse that attraction with love. When you get older, and the looks begin to fade, is there going to be anything below the surface? I think that we like how a person looks, but we love how a person makes me feel. I don't think that I will ever be one of those women that will ever get up in the morning before he does just to put on makeup, brush my hair, put on perfume..all to be this picture perfect persona. That's just it..it's a picture. Take a picture and refer to the lesson towards the bottom. What we fall in love with is how a person makes us feel, how they make us look at life, if they make us feel safe. That's what we fall in love with. Not how they look. The outside fades, but the inside will remain. Fall in love with someone that you will always love the insides when the outside is gone. *Lesson Learned*

3. Laughing, crying, joy and anger...all are vital. All make us human. 
              Laughter - I laugh. I laugh alot. I laugh long. Sometimes I laugh so hard, I can't catch my breath. Sometimes I laugh so hard I start crying. It took me awhile to realize that it's ok to cry..whatever means it took you to get there, it's ok to do so. I have to admit, I'm one UGLY crier. I don't care. I've learned that, for me, crying helps to release everything that is built up. Hell, sometimes I don't even know what I'm crying for, but all I know is I feel better in the end. When I feel anger, I get mad. I know that sounds so silly and simple, but being angry takes too much time, and too much negative energy. I'd much rather put that time into laughing..or crying..or laughing till I'm crying. You get the picture. *Lesson Learned*

4. The greatest truths in life are uncovered with simple, steady awareness. 
            *Truth*

5. Greed will bury even the lucky eventually. 
            Thoughts? 
6. Bad things do happen to good people. 
             I don't think that I can even have an example of this. I think it's clear and evident that this is a lesson learned..even before most of us reach 26. *Lesson Learned..unfortunately*

7. Paving your own road is intelligent, only if nobody has gone exactly where you are going. 
             I don't know. Doesn't paving your own road lead to your individuality? I think that most times, people look at the chance to make their own way because then they can truly say that they did it themselves. I think sometimes that's where pride gets in the way. It's ok to ask for help, and it's ok to follow the path that someone started. But never be afraid to vere off into your own direction to end up where you want to go, not just where the road lead them to, because your path, however similar may be meant to have a different end result.  

8. Uncertainty is caused by lack of knowledge. Hesitation is the product of fear. 
             This one is a thinker. What do you think about this? 
9. Time heals all wounds...regardless of how you feel right now. 
             I guess that really is true. About five or 6 years ago, I was dating someone, lets call him *Roger, whom I met at my job in Missouri. *Roger was wonderful right from the beginning. He called all of the time, checked in just to see how I was doing, met me at my job to have lunch..you know.. all the things that you THINK make up a good boyfriend/girlfriend. Who knew that he was doing all of this to totally throw me off track and to let my guard down. Turns out *Roger was also dating someone that worked for me. Hardest part was, she KNEW that we were dating. Refer to lesson #3..that whole thing about anger and crying. I went back and forth through those like it was my new job. Anger towards him for being a lying cheat, anger towards her for knowing about it, and mostly, anger towards myself for all of the crap that I believed hook, line and sinker. You never think you're going to be one of "those" who is so blind that they can't see the problems. Well, I finally got the courage to break things off with *Roger. He continued to date, lets call her *Shelly, and rumor has it, he did the same thing to her. In retrospect, it's clear now to see how HUGE of a bullet I dodged. From time to time, the anger comes back, but mainly at myself for being so naive. I try not to get too mad though. I was raised to see the good in people..but evidently when the good isn't there, I have to make it up for them. That leads me back to the laughter. *Lesson Learned..Mostly*

10. Most of the time, what you're looking for is right in front of you. 
             Need I say more?! *Lesson Learned*

11. Your health is your life. 
             Refer to my first blog post on New Years resolutions..the whole working out thing. I don't necessarily think that this is a lesson as much as it's a fact. A fact that I need to be better at. I probably have a C for this lesson. 

12. Chance is a gift, so act on chance when given the opportunity. 
             Maybe I always believed that chance was something that jumped on your shoulder when you walked into the casino and put that quarter into the slot machine. Or that chance was that thing that aided you in getting that new job, new car, new house, etc. Maybe we confuse chance with luck. Chance led me to an experience, which led me to a person, which led me to Houston, which led me to a brand new life. I'll take chance over luck any day. *Lesson Learned*

13. Kindness and hard work will take you further than intelligence. 
            I'm not so sure I believe that exactly. Kindness and hard work will take you far. Sometimes, people see kindness for weakness, and will use that kindness and a mechanism to use you for whatever their needs may be. You have to be intelligent enough to see people's objectives and motives. I think that they all three work hand in hand. *Lesson disagreed with...partially*

14. People deserve a second chance, but not a third.
             In baseball, isn't it 3 strikes and you're out? I'm on the fence about a second chance but not a third. Jury's still out.  
15. Marry your best friend. 
             I'll let you know when I get to this lesson!

16. Take lots of pictures. Someday you'll be glad you did. 
             You know all those times when you got annoyed because someone always had a camera and was always taking your picture? Remember those times when they had the camera out and you wanted to look at the picture because you knew if it didn't look good, you'd make them delete it or it would end up on facebook? Yea. I miss that. I'm not taking enough pictures these days. *Lesson back on track*

17. Money makes life easier, only when the money is yours free and clear. 
             If there is one thing that is a hot button for me, it's money. I cannot tolerate people who set out soley for financial gain. Of course, I don't mean in their own jobs. I mean when they look at someone and all that they see are dollar signs. How can you put a financial figure on the rest of your life? How can you put some dollar amount on happiness? You can't guilt a person into just handing money over to you anymore than you can walk up to an ATM and get it to spit out random amounts of cash. That type of thing only happens in the movies. The money is sweeter when it's yours to make. I frequently say that, even if I wont the lottery (by chance) I don't think that I could stop working for the rest of my life. I feel more accomplished when I know that I've earned that money, and that it is mine, free and clear...to do with what I need to do with it. *Lesson Learned..time and time again*

18. Carelessness is the root of failure. 
              Maybe this is true. As I've grown and gotten older, I look back at college. The year that I did the best in college was my very first year, when I was taking something ridiculous like 30 credit hours. That's the best that I ever did. Why? Probably because I was careful. College was not the best experience of my life. I think that anyone who knows me will tell you that. And lord knows that it was a never ending battle/discussion with my parents about it. My mom, a teacher, wanted me to finish college. She didn't care what I majored in, what I wanted to do, just finish college. I know that she was always a bit dissappointed that I didn't get that BIG degree, but I know that she probably just saw the carelessness. Sure, I did graduate with an Associates Degree (by the way..all of you haters who say community college is just like high school...shove it) but looking back, could I have, you know "applied myself better" and "kept my nose in the books"? Absolutely. But guess what! SURPRISE! I think I'm going to go back. With the support of my counterpart, here we go...*Lesson Not Quite Learned..YET*

19. Your actions now create memories you will reminisce and talk about in your elder years. 
               How many people look back at highschool and they say that their best memories were prom, winning homecoming queen, dating the quarter back, spring break. They all sound so cliche. One of my absolute fondest memories, to this day, are my freshman year of highschool..spring musical. I don't think that I'll ever forget that. The director of our show, Fr. Kevin, always held a mass in the school theater for the cast, crew and band of the show. During this mass, we were all sitting around him, and he told us to never forget that. Then, he gave us the best words from the musical "Let the moment go. Don't forget it for a moment though. Just remembering you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or'; makes the 'or' mean more than it did before. Now I understand, and it's time to leave the woods" ("Into the Woods"). Anytime that I need to resolve to let something go, no matter how difficult it may be, I remember back to that exact moment in time, and those exact words. That's truly a memory that will stick with me till my elder years. Needless to say, Lesson Learned, and thank you Fr. Kevin for the lesson!

20. Stepping outside your comfort zone will put things into perspective from an angle you can't grasp now. 
                 I moved to Houston, Texas. 4th largest city in the country - an estimated 2 million people, people. Need I say more...

21. Purposely ignoring the obvious is like walking backwards toward the enemy. 
                 See #9. Remember Roger? 
22. Motivation comes in short bursts. Act while it's hot. 
                 Please refer to the lesson on your health is your life. I'm working out. Immediately when the motivation hits me. Lets hope thats not a casualty of lesson #18..being careless and rooting in failure. Can I say lesson learned on this one?  

23. Taking ownership of failure builds the foundation for success. 
                 I spoke about my experiences with college. I think that's the first time that I ever have taken ownership for that. How about that. I'm learning these lessons as I'm writing this blog. Lesson 23..Check. 
24. First impressions are completely worthless 50% of the time. 
25. Personal glory lasts forever. 
                 No one can take your personal glories or achievements away from you. Some will try, but you can't let them succeed. Hold on to those. They are yours. You walked down a road to get there...sometimes the road was smooth and paved; sometimes it was rough with pothole after pothole; occasionally you reached a fork in the road and you had to choose which direction to do. That direction led you to your glory. Don't let anyone take that from you. 

26. If you never act, you will never know for sure. 
                 Nothing needs to be said. 




I guess at the end of the day, this article is pretty true. I don't think we ever really realize how much we know, or how much we've learned until we take a step back, and remember everything that has led us to right now. Regardless of anything that has happened to you in your past; any decisions you've made; experiences you've been through; lessons you've learned. They've all led to right now. And right now, is just right. 

Happiness in 2012?

2011 is on it's way out, brining in all of these resolutions - promises to do something, fix something, be better at something, learn something new. I have been sitting, through all of these holiday parties, dinners, brunches, and gift exchanges, racking my brain about what I can possibly do in 2012 that will make my life significantly better, and in some small way, have an effect on the rest of the world. The only thing that I can come up with, that I know, without a doubt I can follow through on: I resolve to be happy. With everything that goes on in our day to day lives, we so easily forget the simplest of things - to just be happy. There's always going to be someone out there who has more money than I do, is skinnier than I am, is funnier than I am, is smarter than I am. There's nothing that I can do about it, and I'm finished beating myself up over it. So, for 2012, I resolve to simply be happy. There's so much out "there" to be afraid of. There's so much that we have to face on a daily basis. I live in Houston. Here in Houston, you will find at every single stop sign, stop light, traffic cone, and crosswalk, someone asking for money, asking for food. Someone came up to me last night asking for gas money. To drive around every day and to see those that go without...all I can do is feel blessed for what I have, and be happy with what I have.

There's always someone out there trying to cut you down, thinking that cutting you down makes them a bigger person. We all face the "haters" on a daily basis. Some of us deal with them face to face. Some of us deal with them on social networks like twitter and facebook. Some of us deal with them through mutual acquaintances. Some of us don't deal with them at all. I sit from time to time and wrack my brain about what I did to this person, or that person to make them feel the way that they do. I'm ashamed to say that sometimes, I beat myself up about it. The only answer that I can come up with is, I'm happy, and they hate it. Why they hate it, I can't ever pretend to fully understand. It can only lead me to believe that perhaps for 2012, they should work on their happiness as well.

We face so much discord in our own country. We face racism every single day, but we have an African American president doing it much better than some of our Caucasian presidents past have. How can we have someone leading our country, that we VOTED to put there, and to put our trust and faith in, but when we cross paths with someone of a race different than our own, our walls go up; the stereotypes come out; and we become closed off and small minded. Look how far our country has come. As individuals, we need to come just as far. We are in a day and age where friendship, relationships, they all should be color blind. We should all be so lucky to love someone who loves us back, that the color of skin, country of origin, none of that should matter. What should matter is that we have found the one desire of every single person - to love and to be loved. That's all that matters. As children, we are taught that love makes the world go around. We should hold onto that as adults.

I challenge you to resolve to be happy. Be happy in your own situations. Be happy with your own decisions. Be happy with your life. You only have one of them. Time is something that we can never get back. Life is too short to put time and energy into negativity. Stop trying to change others happiness. Be happy with what you have. Be happy with who you are. Know that you are worth a year of happy.