Lessons I've learnt in the 20 years of my life

1. If you're not happy with something in your life, it's your responsibility to change it instead of sitting around waiting for things to change. I learnt that you do yourself no good by moaning about things, instead you should channel your energy towards taking action.

2. I learnt that just because a person is particularly quiet or grumpy one day, it doesn't always mean that you've done something wrong. They could simply have had a bad day or are just thinking about things. I used to freak out everytime someone acted differently around me.

3. That you should really do laundry at least once a week, because it builds up...really fast.

4. That wearing all black, leather and chains, black eyeshadow and blood red lipstick is not a good for me at all.

5. The type of friends you hang around really does influence your behaviour. I never used to believe this, and would hang around with anyone as long as they were 'fun' even if I knew they were such a bad influence. Thankfully, I've learnt this...although it still is a bit hard putting it into practice.

6. Eat until you're nearly full, then push the plate away. Never, ever eat till you're full and then go for seconds. The consequences are not nice at all.

7. Drinking does not solve problems. Neither does it relieve pain permanently (unless you die of course), nor does it bring you satisfaction (although it's nice to pretend for a while).

8. The guy you love with all your heart might not be the right guy for you. This I've learnt, but still don't understand. I always thought that love conquered all. *sigh*

9. When Mum says not to do something...she's normally right (even if you don't always admit it). How aggravating.

10. Food really does taste so much better when you're pinching it from someone else's plate than when you order it.

11. God really is there. Even when I wasn't looking for Him, He was there. And no matter how much I try to run away from Him, He always pursues me and longs for me to come back to Him. He's as real to me as my family and friends and I wish I could share that with everyone.

12. Say 'no' to drugs.

13. Healing begins with forgiveness. I had and still have such a problem with healing because I was unable to forgive certain people from my past. I said that I forgave them, but I still hung on to what they did, because I thought that if I truly forgave them then I would lose all protection against preventing what they did to me from happening again.


Other Thursday Thirteen-ers