1: Legal in the States

<-- A very good job indeed... 

If you read my first post in my Adventures Page, you'll know that today is my 21st birthday which makes me legal everywhere including the States.

Though since I live in Canada, I've been legal for 2 years already. 

Anyway, between the 18 and 23 I feel like an individual's life changes so drastically. At 18, you're just finishing high school. And soon (if you choose) you enter the world of college/university where you realize how easy high school was. Then you mature (we hope) and finish your senior years and receive your bachelor. And then you're into the working world where you reel in those (big?) bucks and try to pay back those student loans faster than the interest it accumulates. 

These years are simply packed with new experiences, both orgasmic good  and breakup bad, new knowledge, some that stays with you the rest of your life and school which often gets dumped following exams, and personal growth, where you come to realize even more about who you are and what you stand for.

In my 21 years, some things I've learned include:

1. failure is natural and can lead to successes even greater than those who never fail ( I failed 1st year calculus and 2nd year finance ... in addition to essentially failing 2nd year entirely and not being promoted, BUT I went to another school and worked harder than ever before and now I am back)
   
2. as was the case above, if you truly want something you will push yourself and find a way to achieve it ( the key word being TRULY, there's a lot of things I'd like to achieve but at the same time, I don't always  push myself to do it if I don't want it that bad)
   
3. a life of optimism and love is so much more rewarding than a life of pessimism and hate. Love is hard to find, so stand on hate for a better view. There's no value in hating anything.
   
4. don't put your heart and soul into someone too quickly ( the quicker you do, the harder you may hurt if they end up leaving you)
   
5. It doesn't matter if others think you're beautiful or not, it's your own opinion that matters the most,  you should only ever change yourself for your own true desires not those created by others' opinions. You are stronger than peer pressure. 
   
6. your family and upbringing impact you as a person more than you may know, let the positive aspects flourish while bringing anew to those less desired aspects such as being unnecessarily cheap. For me, my parents have really taught me what true hard work means, why saving money is important, and why I should always be grateful for what I have.
7. there may be an age where you stop growing physically, but there is never an age where you stop being able to grow as a person
8. whether or not karma actually exists, always do good, treat others as you yourself would like to be treated, go out of your way to help another, revenge or an eye for an eye is not the answer
9. when life gets sad, or busy, or almost unbearable, take a second to clear your thoughts and see the bigger picture outside of your problems, and remind yourself that as much as you may be suffering, there is almost always someone out there who has it worse. We complain about things others could only dream for
10. in the end, there's always something called a self date and pillows that are always waiting for you to hug them to sleep

These were in no particular order and I've probably forgot many things but these are some things I've learned!

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