13 Things I've Learned

Hey y'all! As you may or may not know, my birthday recently passed on the 12th of April, coincidently Easter. I'm 13 now, and it's insane. I started this blog in September 2017, when I was 10 years old. It's almost been 3 years!

There have been some (tons of) inconsistencies, procrastinating, and terrible writing (I know). But here we are! Thanks for all of y'all's support and love, it means the world :)

Anyhoo, in my bullet journal I decided for April I would create a "13" page. I wrote down one wish I had for this year, things I wanted to do before I turned 14, and 13 things I've learned. I think it's a really good exercise to do for your birthday, even if you don't have a bullet journal. It reminds you of important things and helps you to set your goals for being the next age.

Today I wanted to talk to you guys about 13 things I've learned in my life (that I actually wrote in my bullet journal), and maybe you've learned them, or maybe you might just learn them today. Here they are...

1. Respect and be compassionate to other people's feelings

Ok, I used to be THE biggest brat ever. Let's just say that. I also didn't have that much of an idea how important people's feelings were. I had always wanted people to like me, but there were instances where I was just such a jerk and clearly didn't get how deeply people felt about things.
Now I feel like I just have a better grasp of how to treat people and how important people's feelings really are. I hope my friends would say the same :) I'm not saying change who you are for other people, but be considerate of how someone might be feeling. Try to respect other people's feelings and recognize that you are not the only person on this planet, and the way other people feel matters. If your friend is sad, cheer them up. If you have bad news to give, try and give it in an empathetic way, and show that you're sad too. Think about how other people are actually feeling, don't just depend your actions towards them on how you feel.

2. Treat others how you want to be treated

This is kind of similar to the previous statement, and it's pretty self-explanatory. If you wouldn't want someone to do something to you, don't do it to them.

3. It's better to try and fail than to not try at all

I get super self-conscious about everything, and this tends to stop me from trying new things. For example, I don't do sports because I'm afraid of losing or embarrassing myself. However, I'm learning that if I ever want to get better at a sport or whatever else, I have to try. I have a YouTube channel, as y'all probably know, and I get super insecure about it. I do feel like I'm getting more and more confident about it as time goes on, but there are still always those thoughts of failure and embarrassment. The thing is though, if I ever want to get better and maybe even get noticed by a record label (hey, it could happen) then I have to try. I could go on for years posting videos and working on it and have nothing happen, or I could get noticed by someone. It doesn't hurt to try! You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If you fail, well then you learn something. You know what to do better next time, and you can even try again. You'll never know if you don't try at all.

4. Be proud of yourself and who you are, because that's exactly who God made you to be

This is something I am terrible at, but it's actually really important to remember. Here's a little analogy (you know I love analogies) to put things in perspective:
Imagine you paint a picture. Everything is exactly how you wanted it to be, in it's place, and you know it's beautiful. Then you give the painting to someone. They criticize it, are constantly complaining about it, comparing it to other paintings, and they just don't like it.
That's what we're doing when we criticize ourselves or how we do something. God made us exactly who he wants us to be. Tall, short, skinny, a little bigger than everyone else, blue eyed, brown eyed, good singers, bad singers, good artists, bad artists, terrible at sports, amazing at sports, etc. When we call ourselves ugly or criticize ourselves, we're ultimately saying that God didn't do a good job on us. Yes, it's hard to hear, but that's honestly what it is. Be proud of who you are and how you look because that's exactly how God made you to be :)

5. Sometimes people just need to be alone

This is such a short one and pretty easy to get. I sometimes worry too much about things and as an extrovert I always want to be with people and help them get through things. But really, sometimes people just need some alone time. You can't always help them, just trust that God will speak to them. Short but true.

6. Your attitude shouldn't depend on your situation or circumstance

Oh my goodness, this is so important to remember, especially for me! I can have days where I feel on top of the world and I just feel like being nice to everyone, and then there's those days where I get irritated at anyone who looks at me. As a teen I'm probably going to experience this even more. But the big thing to remember is: just because you're having a bad day doesn't mean you have to ruin everyone else's. It's irritating when people have a bad attitude to you for no reason. Don't be that person.

7. People want YOU not someone else

There are tons of different people in the world, but you're the only one of you. When people really want to be your friend or date you or whatever else, they want to have a relationship with YOU. Not another Tom or Brittany or whoever else. They want to get to know you. So give them the real you, not what you think they want to see. If people really love and care about you, they'll want to know you, not someone else :)

8. Friendships don't depend on distance, they're dependent on love

This is so meaningful to me. Some of my best friends live really far away, and that scares me sometimes because I'm afraid we'll grow apart. One thing my dad told me is really good friends can be apart for years and then come back and talk like nothing happened. If you are trying to make the long-distance friendship work, it will. If you give no effort and don't care, you'll fall apart. Love is all you need to keep a friendship going :)

9. Life is short, don't waste it!

This could just be me, but so far 2020 has gone by really fast. I can't even believe my birthday has already past. It's insane! One thing I've realized is: don't waste time. Be intentional and do what you need to do. Don't waste opportunities because of fear; they might not be there later. Life goes by quickly, don't live in regrets, but look forward to how you can make a better future. I know that sounds like some cheesy quote haha, but it's true.

10. Use your gifts for God's glory

As a singer/songwriter I share my music a lot. Sometimes I find myself wanting to write a song that people will like or relate to. But really, I should be writing my songs to glorify God. Whatever you do, whatever your gifts are, remember where they came from. It doesn't matter what they are. Sports music, school, or whatever else. Remember to thank God in your accomplishments and use your gifts for him.

11. Dress in a way that shows you have self-respect

Ok, this one might get a little bit of controversy, so here's all I'm going to say: It's just like it sounds. What does it mean to have self-respect? It means to know your worth. Dress in a way that shows you care about your body, you're not just showing it off as an item, and you care enough about yourself to care about what you wear. God gave us our bodies. We need to dress in a way that shows we know our worth. I'm not allowed to wear crop-tops or really short shorts, or things that are kinda showy like that. My parents also don't want me to wear really boy-like clothes. I'm not judging anyone who wears those things, but we need to dress in a way that shows we're not just showing off our body as an item for other people, and we care enough about ourselves to care what we wear. Also, think, would I wear this in front of God? That's all I'm going to say for now, but keep those things in mind.

12. Everyone has insecurities, so be grateful for what you have

I talk a little bit more about insecurities here. Just remember that you're not the only one with insecurities. You might hate your skin, but there could be someone out there who would love to have skin like yours. You might hate your face, but there could be someone out there who wishes they had a face like you. Even your friends! You might have really beautiful and talented and amazing friends (like me) and get jealous of them sometimes. But remember, they might get jealous of you too sometimes. You're not the only one. I mentioned this in the post about insecurities, but you can do this: sit in a circle and go around and say your insecurities. Then go and say the things you like about yourselves. This just kinda puts things into perspective when you think about your insecurities.

13. You're not alone!

Ok, this is the last but certainly not least thing! It has been so important to me in the past few months. It's such a simple phrase but it's so true. No matter what you go through, no matter what happens, no matter how many times you fall, you are not alone! There is always someone who cares and loves you. And if there isn't? God does. He cares about you and loves you so so so so much! He's never going to leave, and he's never going to back out or change. He never said it'd be easy, but he did say he'd be with us. Remember this when you feel alone :)

Those are all the 13 things I've learned. :) Hopefully next year I'll be able to add another to this list, and so on. I hope you learned something, or I've told you something that you'll be able to apply to your life this year. These things are all 100% real things that I've struggled with and some I still am. I also do really encourage you to do this for your birthday, it's just a really great reminder of the some of the most important lessons in your life.

I love y'all, and I hope you liked this post. I can't wait 'til my next one, so hopefully I'll see you then!

Love, Gracie <3