maddifestations

an 18-year-old's inner thoughts

Listen while you read!

Today is my 18^th Birthday! Or at least it will be by the time you’re reading this. I’ve been thinking about this day for a while, and it always seemed so surreal. I’m no longer a minor!!! It’s pretty major, if you ask me. (Please laugh that took me a while to come up with).

18 is a weird age because I feel so old, yet I still don’t know half the things I’ll know in my lifetime. While I’m still waiting to learn everything else the world is going to teach me, I did learn a few things in my 17 years of life. So, I thought the perfect way to commemorate my official old age would be to pass on my knowledge. These are my favorite 17 things I learned before 18 came along.

1.) Life is too short to be embarrassed, and it’s not that serious.

We have to make the most of the time we have on this earth. Why waste it being embarrassed by every little thing?! The sooner you accept that no one actually cares as much as you do, the happier you will be. Not to mention, your biggest embarrassments make the best stories : )

To address the latter, nothing is really that serious. Whatever you’re going through that feels like the end of the world is NOT going to kill you. You will be fine, and you’ll probably laugh about it later. Smile! It’s not that deep.

2.) Go on a walk! It helps!

You know you’ve heard it time and time again, but going on walks actually is very therapeutic. No matter how you’re feeling (tired, sad, anxious, lazy, etc), walking is always a good idea.

3.) Listen to your mom, she’s probably right.

We all have times where we want to believe that our parents don’t understand us or that they just don’t get it. Newsflash: yes, they do. Even if you don’t want to come to terms with it right now, your mom is most definitely right, and you should take her advice. She knows a thing or two.

4.) People that are painfully honest are the best type of friends.

If someone tells you what you don’t want to hear, its because they care enough about you to want you to listen. Honesty is a blessing, so hold tight to the people that possess it.

5.) Before you get out of the car, make sure you close the sunroof.

Even if you’re already in bed and you only left it cracked a little, close it, please. It will rain and your car will be wet. And that’s your own fault so try to avoid that for the sake of you and your car.

6.) You don’t need to pretend to like something just to please other people.

I don’t know why we live in a world where it’s bad to have opposite opinions. That’s the whole point of opinions: to have different ones. Don’t be someone you’re not to replicate someone you’ll never be. It’s cool to be you.

7.) It’s so much fun to be excited!

Why be nonchalant and mysterious when you could be perpetually excited and full of hope? Never let people tell you that you’re making too big of a deal out of something. They’re just drowning in despair and fatally allergic to whimsy. Being happy is fun! Wear the fun socks, blast your favorite song in the parking lot, celebrate every holiday like it’s the biggest deal in the world. Life is so much more fun when you see the good in everything.

8.) Dress for the weather, not the season.

My dad taught me this, and it’s the truest thing I’ve ever heard. Just because it’s October doesn’t mean that it’s not 80 degrees.

9.) My older sister is responsible for my good taste.

She is, in fact, the blueprint. I wouldn’t be the person I am if I didn’t have her influence, and that’s the truth. #3 also applies here too; 9 times out of 10, she’s going to be right. (You’re welcome Ava).

10.) It’s okay to grow out of things.

Whether that’s relationships, hobbies, personality traits, or anything else, it’s okay to grow up and grow out of who you were. Change is scary, but it doesn’t mean you’re guilty or at fault for not staying the same. It just means you’re evolving!

11.) You’re going to fail, and you actually should once in a while.

This isn’t new news to anyone, just a reminder. You need to fail at things in order to learn how to succeed. Whether you fail a test (like perhaps your drivers test…oops), you lose a game, or you bomb an assignment, failure is inevitable, and it will push you to be better. Keep in mind, everybody fails. Not everybody is mature enough to accept it and move on.

12.) The quotes are all true, you will find your people.

When you do, you won’t even remember how it felt to be surrounded by the wrong ones. Not everyone is for you, and you’re not for everyone, but the right people will come into your life and you’ll know who they are without a shadow of a doubt.

13.) Fizzy stuff is good!

Learning to like fizzy drinks is my biggest accomplishment to date. Call me a child but I always hated sparkling stuff. Now, I’m a legal adult and I’m addicted to Olipop. I’m proud of myself.

14.) There’s no reason to worry until there’s a reason to worry.

I still need to remind myself of this every now and again. Brought to you by my parents, this is the most grounding piece of advice I’ve ever gotten. You can’t control everything, so take it easy until it’s time to worry. And chances are, by then you won’t be as stressed as you were when you were stuck in your head.

15.) “Pull my leg” is not the phrase. It’s “Twist my arm”.

“Twist my arm” means like “ok, fine, I’ll do it”. “Pull my leg” doesn’t mean anything. Reluctantly, I’m admitting that I learned this two weeks ago, and I have in fact been saying “pull my leg” my entire life. Why did no one tell me?

16.) You can’t force people to care!!!

No matter how hard you try, you can’t make someone care about something they don’t want to put energy into. This also goes into the whole idea of you can’t control everything. Still trying to wrap my head around that. Moral of the story is, don’t waste your time trying to change someone’s mind when they can’t be bothered to change their attitude.

17.) Manifestation is real, and it works.

Delusion is a gift! If you only take away one thing from this entire piece, I want you to know that with enough persistence and confidence, you can make things happen. I would know, it’s kind of my thing (hehe). Also, just because something hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t ever. Just like I haven’t met Timothee Chalamet, but I will one day.

And that’s 17! I hope any of these lessons can help you even a fraction of how much they’ve helped me. There’s so much more that I’ve learned, but even more that I’m yet to discover. In the words of Taylor Swift, “How can a person know everything at 18?”

Unfortunately, this is where I’ll leave you because I don’t have a quippy little ending message to sprinkle in like I normally would. I think it’s because as much as birthdays are an ending, they’re equally as much of a beginning:)