So this past summer, I have been very thankful for all the opportunities that either I sought out or was presented with. Seriously. Even the ones that didn’t work out in my favour.

Some of the things I am thankful for were my summer job and my regular job, scholarships, public speaking opportunities, meeting new like-minded youth, making new friends, being able to volunteer, and being able to live here in London ON albeit on my own & sometimes a little rough but hey that’s life…can’t be all cookies and cream 😉

Anyways, I am writing this post because there are a few things I learned about myself and about life, in general, this summer (so far). Some of which include:
1) I need to trust my gut when it comes to people
2) I need to trust those that mean well (sometimes hard to tell the difference especially when people like to take advantage of others–all too much I let that happen in my life…)
3) It’s ok to cry.
4) It’s ok to say “No” to a friend and those that are true friends will accept it
5) It’s ok to tell people how you feel and what you think but be aware either one may not be well-read or interpreted as you meant (Just don’t be rude, disrespectful, and insulting).
6) And if you are going to say anything about anybody, make sure it’s only good things (seriously).

I learned these things not necessarily by making all the mistakes myself. Rather, being my hyper-sensitive self, I usually paid attention to other people’s reactions or actions to myself as a person or to other people in the same room as I.

And, yes I wouldn’t call myself perfect, yet I wouldn’t call myself the worst person on the planet.

The one thing I learned, especially about scholarships, is that sure you can apply for all the scholarships in the world but the ones where you don’t meet all or some of the requirements you most likely won’t win. Yup, it’s true, you really can’t win em all 😉 but the most important thing is not to feel defeated. Just try harder and work harder to win next year. Don’t be bitter about losing. You know how that saying goes, “when one door opens another one closes…” oh crap, I mean, “when one door CLOSES, another one OPENS” Really, it holds true but don’t wait for that one door to open…sometimes you have to give that one door a big push!

I remember when I wasn’t hired on from my co-op placement in Toronto. I was a bit bummed (okay, maybe a lot bummed) but you know what, if I was hired on that means I would have never gone to UWO, never been hired at the law firm I work with now, never spoke at the youth gathering, never been… I am sure you get my point. All the good things that happened from not being hired on would have never happened or perhaps different positive things would have happened in my life if I had been hired on? Who really knows! All that I know that today, I am thankful for all the things that have happened in my life today, positive and negative. Yup, I said it negative things too. I would have never learned the lessons I learned to date (trust me there are a lot more lessons that I have learned since returning to London ON in 2010 than I have since my first breathe in 1986). And, without both positive and negatives experiences of myself or experiences I witnessed of others, I would have never learned what I needed to learned to get me to where I am today.

I hope that those that read this blog that they understand, whether their life is peachy-keen or they are having the worst day of their life, it really is true: When one door closes, another one opens & it also helps to learn from the experiences of others (as the saying goes–because you can’t possibly live through all life experiences yourself).

Note: The last saying I can’t credit to myself but rather my mom & her cuteness of posting sayings all over the bathroom mirror so all her girls could see them at the start of the day. My mom is so cute ❤ oh and I don't know where my mom got the saying but the correct version of it goes: Learn from the mistakes of others because you can't possible live long enough to make them all yourself.