Simply Nicole: 19 Things I've Learned In My 19 Years of Living

Lately I've had some time to really ponder and reflect on how life has been these past several months (now that my freshman year at BYU is coming to an end.. CRAZY!) And I've decided to share 19 things I've learned about life since I'm like 19 and whatnot haha. Here it goes!

If there is ANYTHING I know for a fact is that whenever you put God first in your life everything will ALWAYS work itself out. I know sometimes life gets chaotic and there are midterms and papers to be written and all your friends want to hang out and you're just like "AHHH WHY DO YOU HATE ME UNIVERSE" and you're just like there is absolutely no time to read your scriptures and pray but trust me there is. Heavenly Father loves you and wants to talk to you, so make the time :)

Sometimes you will meet someone that will LITERALLY test your patience. And as great as it is to let others say what they need to say it is also good to stand up for yourself! Okay so I'm actually kinda like really bad at this (I'm working on it!) but I've come to realize that it's so important to be able to stand up for yourself. Because you see, one day you may be like all alone and someone's like "Hey you're being rude oh and by the way your shirt is ugly" So you'll have to be like whoa there you're wrong my shirt is Awesome! And then do the stand upish thing that goes down haha. Just keep in mind that there is a HUGE difference between standing up for yourself and tearing someone else down. Tearing others down is just a straight up No No. I don't care how mad or frustrated you are, you have NO right to ever yell at someone and make them feel like they are a lesser person than you.

Have you ever gone and done service grudgingly at first and then you come out of it feeling 10000x better? Same. I love serving others especially when I'm really frustrated or I feel like my world is falling apart. See the thing is when you forget yourself for a bit and focus on other people and their lives you realize that whatever you were frustrated about or whatever was "tearing your world apart" is temporary and that things will get better. Sometimes all you have to do is "Forget yourself and go to work."

Sing all the time. Sing when you're sad. Sing when you're alone. Sing when you're walking to class. Sing off-key. Sing when your sitting next to the person you like! Singing helps relive stress and makes you happy. Who knows maybe it'll even help you make more friends! But honestly just sing and sing wholeheartedly!

About the picture above.. I can't exactly remember but I'm pretty sure this was when part of my family decided to send me a snapchat of them singing! I think Brianna may kill me once she sees this.. Whoops! (Love you guys!)

This is fortunately really easy for me, some say its a blessing. I say it's a blessing and a curse. Why a curse? Because people tend to take advantage over the fact that I have an anger span of about 10 min. Literally. Like if I stay mad at you for longer than an hour than I must REALLY be mad at you. I have truly been blessed with the fact that I usually don't get offended easily. Looking at the big picture though this is really nice because I am able to not let things bother me and go on being my happy cheery self! (At least happy and cheery when I'm not stressed haha)

So I have made a nice little realization about myself and it is that whenever I dress up nicely I feel 103875982364x better about myself! For realizes! Sometimes I'll get up in the morning and put on sweats because I'm running late but I always do a double take and somehow most of the times I try to make an effort to make myself look good. No I don't do it for boys, that's just dumb (If you do that then disregard my dumb comment, you do you boo) I dress for myself. Sounds cliche/cheesy but when I do I really do feel better about myself.

Always. Always. Always. Always be nice to EVERYONE including YOURSELF. You don't know what that person is going through- we all have our daily struggles. So just be nice! Plus it's fun and Jesus would want you to be nice.

Coming to college has really helped me appreciate my family soooooo much more. I LOVE talking to them via the FaceTime (even though sometimes they don't want to talk to me... *sad face*). I have always looked up to my parents and though I didn't use to always ask or take their advice I sure do appreciate everything they have to say now. I don't know what I would do without them and their wise (sometimes silly) words.

I tend to stress myself out for no reason (a lot).. if you didn't know this about me before, well now you do! So many times to calm my anxiety/nerves I like to walk to the Provo Temple and just take a time-out form the world. It's amazing how strongly you can feel the Lord's love for you even if you are only walking around the temple. Any who, the temple is my happy place, what's yours?

You will meet people and you may become the bestest of friends with them but just because you are really close friends does NOT mean they can read your mind or know how you're feeling 24/7. I've found that as uncomfortable and as hard as it is to open up to others it's worse to just keep it all bottle up inside you. So just talk it all out. Find someone you truly trust and let them know how you are feeling. Don't keep it bottled... that will only make things worse in the end. But most of all don't assume people know how you are feeling. They can't read your mind so talk to them. Let them know. Also if you absolutely can't find a single soul that you can talk to, I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father would love to hear from you.

Change in life whether it's moving to a new house, creating a new wardrobe, finding new friends, or changing your lifestyle. At first it will be hard but most times change is good. Most times it will be worth it in the end. A little over 18 months ago I had to make a HUGE change my life and I am so grateful I did because I haven't been as happy and full of life as I am now. Sure at times you look back and think "But what I used to do was so much easier- if only I could go back" But that's the thing about life- it's meant to challenge and change you. You are meant to always move forward. It's nice to look back only if you are looking to see how far you've come not to wish you could be there again. "Keep your chin up buttercup"

One of my favorite things to tell my friends and family is to "Smile Always". I think it's so important to smile especially when you really don't want to because smiling makes the soul happy and who doesn't want to be happy? Soo smile. Right now. Go.

Honestly. Need I say more? If you haven't learned this by now, well, trust me.. you will. I had to learn the hard way that you can't please everyone. If you try you will end up being the most miserable person on this planet because you will always be doing things to make sure other are happy. But what about yourself? You also need to do things for yourself. You need to do you.

Food and I use to (at times still do) have a tricky relationship (you probably think I'm wack bc who on earth has a relationship with food.. Me. I do. And it's great haha). Any who I've learned that it's always best to carry food because you never know if at some point during the day you'll get super busy and not have time to stop and eat or you might run into a hungry soul. If either happens then you'll be prepared and everyone knows it's always best to be safe than sorry.

(This is my best friend Megan holding Jamba because we love Jamba and in this photo she was also really mad that her straw was taller than mine and Michaella's which I found hilarious bc in real life she is taller than us! It's funny, I promise haha)

Many times we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to tell those we love that we love them. And if you're anything like me getting reminders that you're loved and appreciated are VERY important. So send a text, hug a friend, do something to show your friends and family that you care for them!

I CANNOT express just how important this is. Seriously. Take a day off and go for a run or read a book or swim or pull up Netflix! Anything really! It's so important to take a break from school and such that sometimes you just need a "lazy day".

I think this may be one the oh so many weird Nicole quirks BUT if you are going to be barefoot or wearing sandals PAINT YOUR DANG TOES. I don't know why I feel so strongly about this but I just do. It is one of my biggest pet peeves (mostly for myself) when my toes don't have some sort of nail polish on them. Plus it makes your toes look nice and pretty!

I realize there are many different types of people (like some people don't paint their toes, weird jk haha.. but not really) so organization may not be your fort-ayy. I on the other hand am sort of a clean freak (not always) and so in order for me to function properly my room has to be clean (not like overly clean just enough so it looks nice). Plus it's really nice to come home to a clean room :)

Okay picture yourself talking to your 5 year old self. Would you tell them that they can't eat a cookie because otherwise they will get fat? Would you tell that 5 year old that they look "so ugly" in that shirt? Would you hurt, starve, or deny that 5 year old anything but happiness? No? I didn't think so. So why do you do it to yourself? See there is still part of that 5 year old inside of you. So be nice to them. Put them to bed early, let them love fully, let them eat cookies and ice cream, let them wear their favorite shirt! Treat yourself the way you would a small child. Why?

You are a child of God. This body you have. The one that allows you to read the words on this screen right now? It was given from your Heavenly Father. The creator of all the Earth. The one who makes NO mistake. He made you. And I can assure you that you are NO mistake.