12 Life Lessons From 2017
Merry Christmas angels, I hope you are all having a magical holiday season. 2017 is quickly coming to an end, it's crazy to think how many wonderful, sad, scary and beautiful things can happen in a single year. I often wondered if someone were to give us a guidebook on January 1st, to help us through the coming year, if things would turn out differently, if perhaps we would be a little less clumsy and a lot more secure. However, going into 2017 blissfully oblivious to what would come helped me realise and learn a lot of things of which no book or manual could ever teach me. I hope this year assisted you in growing and blossoming too. If I did have the chance to whisper some words of wisdom into the ears of last year's Lauren, this, is what I would have told her.
January
You are no longer who you are, you will never ever be who you once were and it's going to take a long time before you will be able to be who you deserve to and want to be. Unknowns to you there is still that tiniest sliver of the true you inside just waiting to be ignited. Never let go of that spark. You may feel consumed by a darkness of which has quenched all your light but hold on. I promise there is still that tiny glimmer of the true you within you. You may not remember who you are but your dearest loved ones still do. The stories they tell you of a little girl who was happy, free, creative, loving, caring and fun always has and will be you. She is just lost right now, she will never be the same but part of her will come back.
February
You wonder how you are going to survive this, it may seem unimaginable but I promise you that you will. You will adapt. You are stronger than you think. You will learn to find joy in the little things like a good morning text from your mammy, a new sudoku book, a doctor who holds your hand while taking bloods. It's going to be ok.
March
Don't judge a book by its cover. Open your eyes. The person you met who scared you will be the very one who wipes your tears when you're weeping with fear. Pain is the greatest shared connection. You are going to make the most unlikeliest of friends; people of all ages, genders, races, religions...and they will be the very people that will help and uplift you the most.
April
Sometimes the scariest choice is often the best decision. Listen to the words of advice from others, you don't always know best. Please stop hating yourself, even for a second. Everything you have tried all along has brought you to this point, take the terrifying risk of change and see what happens, it might just lead to something wonderful.
May
It's ok to be happy. Let go and let things flow. You cannot protect yourself from sadness without consequently protecting yourself from happiness.
June
Follow your hopes and chase your dreams. Your only limit is you. The past few years have hopefully highlighted just how short and fleeting life is. Start the blog, be yourself, do what you've always wanted to do. Stop waiting for tomorrow, live your dreams now.
July
Be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can. It can be nerve wrecking being thrown back into teenage hood, everyone else may appear more experienced, put together, 'learned' in the arts of living a young adult life, but, each person you compare yourself to is probably just as intimidated and confused as you are. It's ok to be a late bloomer. Everyone has different human experiences endured at different stages and altering times. There is no 'right' way to grow up.
August
Just when you think things couldn't possibly get any worse, they can. Don't lose hope. Luckily for you, like yin and yang, it must entail that when you think things couldn't possibly get any better, they can too.
September
Trust the magic of new beginnings. Rather than fearing new changes, look to them as exciting possibilities of which may perhaps contain all of your hopes and dreams.
October
It's ok to be both. You are allowed to have whatever proportion of characteristics within yourself as you feel to be true. As humans, we may appear as a paradox of opposing beliefs, but that is the beauty of humanity, we are messy creatures. The different sides of us are not mutually exclusive but are rather intertwined as one to create the uniquely stunning people that we are. Like yin and yang, we are entities that need balance. We need both the peace in the wild and the wild within the peace. Allowing yourself to find a balance between the perhaps contradictory states within you rather than tip-toeing on a tightrope is what will help you find contentment and comfort in who you are rather than trying to fit into a specific idealised standard of who you believe you should be.
November
Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. The lesson repeats as needed. If you react in the same way, expect the same results. Vulnerability can be terrifying but it's the only way we can truly experience beautiful raw moments of pure and honest bliss. Stop waiting for everything to turn bad, good things can actually really happen to you. Stop fearing the moment of which you may ruin everything. Take it as it is, not all apples have a secret poison hidden within. Be love, be light, be fearlessly alive.
December
Don't be afraid of the pain laughing, loving and living might bring. Be afraid of never enjoying the feeling of a love and a life that takes away the fear of experiencing pain.
'I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity.'
If you could give the beautiful pre-2017 version of you some advice what would you say? Feel free to let me know in the comments below or anonymously in the ASK section of my blog (it makes my day getting such kind lovely messages from you, it means the world that these posts are helping people). I hope this year was a year of growth love and happiness for you. Click here to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on new blog posts. I hope you enjoyed!
lots of love & peace & happiness
Lauren x
