Things I learned in Summer 2010

Really, this is more of an accumulation of Life Lessons that have crept up on me, somehow making this one of the best summers ever.

1. It's OK to say no. Especially to a boy. I've made a lot of mistakes when it comes to wanting attention from the opposite sex, and for the most part I've forgiven myself for acting a drunken desperate fool.

2. You will think about your first love. A lot. Sometimes it will worry you, how much you're thinking about him. But it's completely fine. The two of you went through a lot together; you were with each other for a long time. It makes sense that he'll be there, somewhere, in the back of your mind.

3. In conversations, observe and then talk. Balanced, feel-good conversations only happen when your focus is not to tell someone else how to live, but when you listen to someone else, and ruminate on crazy situations.

4. Regretting your situation won't make it any better. If I'm going through a phase where I feel like my internship wasn't good enough, my school didn't offer enough classes, my school is too small...forget it.

5. Brilliant mentors are diamonds and can push you to learn things about yourself that you would never have expected. They are catalysts for change. They are tornadoes that blow through your life, picking up all your expectations and deep-rooted beliefs and plopping them down in the middle of nowhere, leaving you stranded and confused, but wiser and stronger for it.

6. Good friends never go out of style. That sounds like something that would be in Glamour magazine...but it's true. Having good friends builds confidence and makes me happy.