1. You have to learn how to make yourself happy because no one else is guaranteed to stay with you forever. You can’t rely on other people to bring you happiness. Sometimes, you’re going to be stuck in your home alone. Sometimes, you’re going to be trapped with your own thoughts. You won’t have the chance to distract yourself with parties and work and social media. You’ll be completely on your own — which is why you need to know how to make yourself happy.

2. You have to put conscious effort into your self-growth because no one else is going to do the work for you. So many people are happy living in their ignorance — but you don’t want to be one of those people. You don’t want to keep making the same mistakes and turning away from people who are suffering. You need to be brave enough to admit that there are a lot of things you don’t know and that you need to start educating yourself. You need to become a more well-rounded person so you don’t end up accidentally hurting people you claim to care about deeply.

3. You have to remind people how much you care as often as possible because everyone is suffering. You aren’t the only one who has been going through a rough time. The people you love, the people who seem like they have their lives together, are probably suffering, too. They need your kind words. They need you to remind them you’re there for them. They need you to be there for them emotionally, even when you can’t be there physically.

4. You have to take care of your emotional and physical health. It doesn’t matter how young you are. You aren’t indestructible. Anything could happen. Make sure you take care of yourself instead of putting off seeing a doctor or a dentist or a therapist. Make sure you stop procrastinating because you deserve to feel healthy and safe and fulfilled. You deserve to be here.

5. You have to cut mean people out of your life, even when you love them. You might be trying hard to keep someone in your life, even though you have wildly different views. You might be trying to ignore your differences in order to get along with them. But some differences are too big to overcome. Some differences (disrespectful differences) aren’t worth the pain. Even though you love someone, you might have to let them go in order to feel free.

6. You have to keep your guard up high because some people suck. You can’t believe everything you hear. You have to be careful about the type of information you’re consuming. You have to fact check what you read and make sure you’re not getting tricked into believing something that simply isn’t true. You need to always be aware that, although there are good people in this world, there are bad people, too. Not everyone has good intentions.

7. You have to keep going. Even when everything feels wrong, even when the world is a mess, you have to keep going. You can’t let yourself give up hope.