15. Black coffee: Not as cool as you think it makes you.
14. Write it all down. Goals of publishing your first book, dreams of moving to New York or that better position at work. Write.it.all.down.
13. Do something terrifying. Move out. Travel alone. Start your own business. Leave unnecessary friends who don’t help your growth. Get a puppy. Jump. Do something you aren’t ready for because in all honesty, you’ll never be ready for any of it. You’ll never do it if you don’t do it now.
12. Give to those who need it more than you.
11. Forgive. You may not speak to them anymore, you may not like them but forgive and respect them anyway. Forgive not for them, but for yourself. Such a burden to carry hatred. It leaves you drained and uninspired and basically does nobody any good. So let it loose.
10. Respect. Give it to receive it and if not reciprocated, respect them anyway but do not engage with them. No explanation needed, just move along. Respect is earned by how one carries themselves not gained through asking. Show it to get it.
09. Travel. Forget about money. We all have student loans. We all have bills. But the one thing that can teach us the most and make us the richest are the experiences and memories built through our travels. The further away we get, the clearer we see.
08. Do your own thing. Being in a relationship sucks us into how much we always want to be with each other. That’s not necessarily a bad thing until you forget about yourself. Your own wants, goals, achievements. Learn the difference between having goals together as partners and goals you should achieve by yourself that only you can achieve alone.Don’t let your relationship define you. No significant other can give you everything / achieve your goals / love you as much as you want them to. So love yourself, achieve those goals and give yourself everything. This is how you teach each other things and grow together. Self growth equals relationship growth. Be kinder to yourself. Never forget yourself in any circumstance.
07. Trends are for square. Don’t follow them. You like skinny jeans but flares are trending? Stick with the jeans. Whatever makes you comfortable will make you confident and confidence is a classic that will never go out of style like trends do.
06. Have a clean and beautiful space to come home to. Be it an apartment, or a loft or even a room. It is your zen and personal space. Make it yours, keep it clean and make sure it’s comfortable and a space of constant inspiration.
05. Kind words cost nothing, spread that shit everywhere.
04. You don’t find your worth in a man. You find your worth within yourself and then find a man who’s worthy of you.
05. Cut them out. Everything. From people to old shoes you’ve been hoarding forever, to DVD’s when you don’t even own a DVD player. It’s baggage that’s holding room for less things. Minimalism isn’t an aesthetic. Minimalism is a way of life.
04. Cut unnecessary people out. It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over. If you surround yourself with the good and righteous, they can only raise you up. If you surround yourself with the others, they will drag you down into the doldrums of mediocrity, and they will keep you there, but only as long as you permit it.
03. Never stay within lines. Color your life the way you want to. People who follow the crowd go nowhere. Make your mark outside the box.
02. Sexy isn’t about flesh. It’s the way you speak, the way you walk and the way you carry yourself. Classy is sexy. You attract what you become.
01. Stop. Breathe. Cry if you must.
So much has happened to me in the past. For those who know me personally know that it’s mostly bad than good. I could have been changed by my mistakes and my past but I refused to be reduced by it. You owe it to yourself to succeed so don’t be afraid to try again. It is in the mistakes you do that brings you a step closer to your goals.
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
Cheers to 2015. Hello 2016.