Lessons Learned

One of my sister's gorgeous senior photos by MegWhite photography! Seriously though, is she not darling?

Hello, gorgeous friends!

I haven't updated in a week- which is ridiculous for me! But this past week has been filled with changes, family, and some much needed R&R. Boyfriend went back to school this week (so did I) which leaves me officially roommate-less once again and I will be sharing our adventure trial run in being in a live-in couple here soon!

I spent the weekend hiding out at mom and dad's- they don't even live out of town! It's like a ten minute drive down the road! But Little had just got back from Breckenridge and we spent the weekend lounging on the couch and catching up. It's fun to play teenager every once in a while- sit on the couch, eat food I didn't pay for, in a house I don't pay for. Awww, sweet relaxation! We picked Little's prom dress which is absolutely amazing and completely unexpected. I am sure I will post tons of pictures of her in it when the time comes!

Little is a senior this year which is absolutely unreal and scary for me (she won't be ten minutes down the road when I want to do movie nights!) but also very exciting! This got me really thinking about all the things I've learned since high school and how much things have changed (and yet, some things not so much).
 So I decided to come up with a little list of lessons I've personally learned since high school.

 I'm so excited for her to get to have her own adventures and make her own decisions and see what she decides to do with that new independence!

Life after high school taught me:
- I make my own rules and decisions. My parents did a very good job of trying to teach right/wrong and setting rules of the house- that being said, I don't always agree with their definitions of right versus wrong but I think that's a good thing. As you grow up, you have to decide what is right for you. I've come to find that quite often there is more than one "right way" of doing things and that what one person believes is not necessarily true for another. That's the fun part- you get to figure out what you believe in.
- The greatest way to learn what you like is to try new things. For instance, my mom is a "well done" steak person. All my life I've been fed well done steak. Let me just tell you my personal thoughts- well done is steak is not delicous. It's fine, it's edible but it's not something to fuss over. So once on a whim, I tried "medium rare" steak (yeah, I'm brave!) and it was like WOAH! Whole new ballgame. Completely different (Better to me) taste. Now I get excited about steak. But growing up my mom always said I'd get sick off steak that was pink in the middle or that it was gross and I believed her. She doesn't like it and that is okay- the point is you will never know if you like something or not if you are too afraid to try it.
-"Different" doesn't make you "weird"- Am I the only one who wanted to fit in in high school? Boy, I sure hope not. But, I did. I went to a very small school and a lot of the kids were more "country" (though I hate that term) than I was but I was always pulled toward a more punk-y, edgy style as a teen so I was SO confused as to who I was supposed to be as a teen. Seriously, I didn't know if I was supposed to shop at Hot Topic or Hollister. The point is, be who YOU are and who you want to be. People who don't understand will turn it into a negative but it isn't. The world would be a dull place if everyone were exactly the same. The world needs a "Destiny". The world needs a "YOU".
- Acceptance and understanding are two huge stress relievers. There are certain things you can't change. There are, hate to tell you. Little things you can't control- those obstacles are put there to change us. To make us stronger. So, accept that you have to face whatever that obstacle is head on- and then let go. Let go of the worry. Don't overplay it in your mind. Just let it go, and tackle whatever hurdle you have to tackle with the knowledge that you are better because of it.
 Along the same lines- you can neither control or change other people (but gosh, how handy would that be?!). Don't concern yourself with the unneeded stress of trying to alter someone else's beliefs or thought process so that it is more like your own- they have a reason for doing what they do and being who you are, just the same as you do.
-My parents are far better parents than teenage me would ever have wanted to admit. You know what the best thing about my parents was? They let me be a kid. Seriously, I didn't know how great I had it. They never worried us about money problems, they never asked us to pay their bills, they never made us take on any responsibility we couldn't handle- they let us be young, carefree kids. They also aren't big fans of handouts and have taught me that if I want something, I have to earn it.  They also dressed me in fuzzy bunny sweaters until the fifth grade but we'll save that grievance for another day! (Love you, mom!)
-If you don't want it to, drama doesn't have to follow you after high school- I hear this all the time (or read it on Facebook) where a kid is excited to graduate to be rid of girl drama and people comment that it never ends. It does end. It at least gets a whole lot better. I found college to be much more spread out and that people really didn't care about little things the way younger kids do. If you have that friend that constantly talks crap on you (we've all had em!), ditch 'em. Seriously. You won't be sorry. Negativity is contagious and this is one situation you can control. Get rid of anyone who doesn't make you feel "good" and surround yourself with people who think you are amazing- you will start to think you're amazing too.

What has life after high school taught you?