2016 was quite a year. For some, it was a year of happiness and for others, it was the exact opposite. There were  numerous deaths and the election of a new president, but for all I believe, it was a year of growth, and it taught me so much not only about myself, but about others. This is only twenty out of the hundreds of things I learned in 2016, and I hope it sheds some light, or makes you think about what you learned, too. 

1. Cut off negative friendships, even if you have been friends for six years. It’s okay to cut people off because people change and negativity isn’t worth it.
2. Trust in your friends and realize that sometimes situations are better than they seem.
3. Find good music and listen to it on repeat with your friends. When it gets old, stop listening to it, but come back in a few months and listen to it again because it’ll bring back all the memories you made when you were obsessed with it.
4. Three months can change a person, and it’s okay if you are not where you want to be right now because things change.
5. Get a job when you turn 16. It teaches you how to be responsible and also teaches you how to manage your time. Plus, you also have your own money that you can spend on whatever you want.
6. Hang out with friends on school nights because it’ll boost your mood, and it is more fun to study with others.
7. Plan a trip with your friends and follow through with it because you make a lot of memories that you’ll remember forever.
8. Go to every football game both home and away because the atmosphere at both are completely different, and all the guys on the team deserve support from every student.
9. Join a team that you never thought you could be a part of because you will meet so many good people and make so many good memories.
10. Try your hardest and try to be the best you can be because hard work does pay off in the end, especially when you have to start applying to college.
11. Treat your parents with respect because they are the ones who have supported you from the beginning, and although they may not believe in all the choices you will make, they will always love you and they deserve to be respected.
12. Take pictures of everything you do and everywhere you go because when you are feeling sad, you can look back and see that not everything in life is bad.
13. Get outside and leave your phone in your backpack or in your car because you miss so much when you stare at a screen, and the world has so much to offer.
14. It’s okay to drift away from people, even if you were once inseparable. There is always a chance that you can reconnect when the time is right.
15. Do your math homework. Trust me, it helps so much when you have a test or quiz.
16. Build strong relationships with your teachers because it makes school so much more enjoyable when you have a friendship with teachers.
17. If you don’t enjoy doing something, don’t continue doing it. Peer pressure is a hard thing to overcome, but yourself as a person is more important than being popular.
18. Be responsible, but let yourself have fun because it’s high school and you’re a teenager and you deserve it.
19. Write. Write about your feelings. Write about everything that happens in your life because it relieves stress and improves your knowledge.
20. Be happy.