Growing up is hard to do.

Well, it is, right? I mean I'm not saying that its not fun too, because it is, its just hard or it can be. You have to pay bills, you have to go to school, I mean figuring out what you want to do in life is hard enough! Lucky for me I've known since I was 16, and I haven't regretted a single thing about it. Get a big kid job (which if you find the right one, you'll love it and it won't feel like work!) So many things can make growing up hard. First of all, people make growing up hard. Because sometimes people are just straight up meanie heads and want to rain on your parade. But you know what? Grab an umbrella because you aren't letting them. One thing that I've really noticed a lot lately is that people do not know how to take responsibility for their own actions. Yeah, I learned how to do that before I hit kindergarten so its a shame that some "adults" don't know how to do that. I learned from a young age that if you pull your sister's hair, mom and dad are gonna get mad. And if you push your sister in front of a truck when she's in a stroller, mom and dad are gonna get REALLY mad. (Sorry Court, I didn't mean to hate you back then.) Anyways, every action has a consequence. Especially in a relationship. Nothing good comes from lying or cheating, especially cheating, and I have no respect for people who think that it does. I could not care less what the excuse you have is, it is NOT okay and it never will be, and if you think it is, then you should probably swerve. I'm not trying to degrade or look down on anyone, everybody makes mistakes. But the best possible way to handle a situation like that, and to really grow up, is to be able to admit you're wrong. You will never go far in life if you don't know how to apologize, and how to sincerely mean it. Maturity is key.

Growing up isn't always a hard or bad thing though, don't get me wrong! It's such a beautiful thing to be able to live and to love life so much. We grow up, we fall in love, we fall out of love, we make mistakes, and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we get lucky enough to fall in love with our best friend, and sometimes we learn things the hard way, and that's okay too. Life isn't always easy, but it is 100% definitely worth it. I would take a broken heart any day if it made me a better person because of it.

One thing I'm really big on is life lessons, and I have my parents to thank for that. Actually I have my parents to thank for quite a lot. I believe that they raised me to be a really great girl. Sometimes I can be a little devil, and everybody knows that, but deep down I always try to have the best intentions. I know how to own up to my mistakes, to fix them, and how to swallow my pride. If I take any piece of advice that my dad taught me growing up (besides how to stomp on a milk carton and make it sound like a gunshot,) it would be to swallow your pride. You aren't always going to be right. In fact, most of the time you are going to be really wrong. And the best way to handle it, is to swallow your pride. Life will be so much easier once you learn how to forgive yourself and how to forgive others. My parents  turned EVERYTHING into a life lesson for Courtney and I, and I'm not just saying that. Literally everything was turned into a life lesson and I'm really grateful for it. I think that having that kind of outlook on everything made Courtney and I better girls, and it made us both who we are today. It makes the hard times easier to get through, and it makes the really great times that much better. Because things will always get better, they will. You have to believe it, you have to have faith, and they will.

Positivity is not always an easy thing, especially with so many negative connotations that have to do with just about everything. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not one who's always positive, but I've been working my absolute hardest to be. Positivity has a ripple affect. It's all in the attitude. When you're happy about life, everybody else around you seems to pick up on your sunshiny thoughts, and the world just seems to be a better place. Wouldn't we all like to live in a world like that?

I'm currently reading an Audrey Hepburn book titled "How to be lovely." I think that every girl who cares about her place in this world should read it. It's not just about how to be pretty, etc. Its about how to have grace, how to have elegance and class, and how to hold your own. And that's something that I really want to have. I personally want to be able to be an example to others, the way that my very best friend, Madison Meyer, has been to me. Now I won't go off ranting about Madi (although I have plenty to say about this sweet girl!) but she has been such an example of elegance, grace, and a darn good example of how to be a tough girl in this scary and hurtful world. I wouldn't have been able to get through the last few months without her to be honest. And that has been one of the biggest examples of a saving grace to me if I've ever seen one. And that's the kind of girl that I want to be, and who my parents raised me to be. I'm closer to where I was, but I still have a long ways to go, and that's perfectly okay.

Sometimes we lose track of ourselves in this big big world, but with our "saving graces" we can get back on track, and find ourselves. Growing up is hard to do. It really is. But with patience, love, and faith, we can have the lives that we've always dreamed of having, and have the lives that we deserve to have. Never settle.

xoxo.