To Be 16 Again

I found a website through Pinterest with 30 questions to for a date night.  Since Chris and I are so busy and always on opposite schedules, we settled for one question a night for a month.  The questions vary a lot in topic but all help you to learn more about your date.  I thought since Chris and I have been together for almost 5 years there wouldn't be too much to learn.  Well, I was wrong!  So far we have done about 5 questions and with each question I have learned more about myself as well as Chris.

One question, what 10 things would you tell your 16 year old self if you could, really got me thinking.  What lessons has life taught me that would have benefited me at 16?  The first thing I thought of was life is so much bigger than high school.  Looking at high school these days, I don't think kids realize how much more fun,  and more complicated life gets after 18.  I think I was able to somewhat see that life did exist after high school.  However, I still fell into the mindset that the embarrassing things that I did obviously were the end of the world.  I think knowing  about all the bigger things that are more important than high school would have benefited me in high school.

Another lesson that I have learned is to live in the moment (or at least try).  I tend to focus on the future and sometimes find myself missing out on the present.  The difference between 16 and now is that now I realize what I am doing and try to redirect my thoughts to focus on the moment. 

That that don't kill you can only make you stronger.  When I was in college I had to write a philosophy paper on my views of religion, science, morals, education and life so far.  The theme that I ended up with for the paper was from a song: that that don't kill you can only make you stronger.  I have found that life is full of many trials and struggles.  It is important to remember that if it doesn't kill you it is only helping you to become stronger. 

Life is so much bigger than my small home town.  Growing up in such a small town was a good experience.  I had a good education, teacher attention and knew all of my classmates.  However, upon going away to college I learned how little I knew about the outside world.  I met people of new races, religions and belief systems all of which were not represented in my small hometown bubble.  I would want to go back and tell myself to take any opportunity to explore other cultures and beliefs.

The other big lesson that I have learned is that hard work will get you everywhere.  I realized when I was in high school that hard work often paid off however, I never knew how much those words would come to play a role in my life.  I never realized how hard I could work to achieve my goals.  Since then I have often been amazed at how much I have accomplished with all the work that I have done.

So anyway, I feel as if I have come a long way since 16.  Many of the life lessons I learned also made me stronger and into the person I am today.  It would be beneficial to go back and tell my 16 year old self all of these lessons but it would also ruin the surprises in life.  The mistakes I have made, the embarrassing moments, the struggles, the sad times and pee-your-pants-funny moments have all taught me about myself.  I wouldn't go back and change anything if I could.

If anyone is interested in the questions click here.  Chris and I have so far found them to be very interesting.  We have enjoyed learning new things about each other!