1. Happiness starts from within. At some point, there will be an urge for you to get out there and go to a bajillion places to meet a bajillion people for you to find the happiness you have always been dreaming of. But the truth is… Happiness starts with you. YES, you! Hold yourself accountable. If you find it from within yourself to be happy, everything else will follow. Life will be a lot less stressful, people will be a lot less annoying, everything else will be a bit more bearable than before.
2. You cannot depend your happiness on others. You should never rely on other people to make you happy. Sometimes, we try so hard to please other people: we dress the way society dictates us to, we do the things we see other people do, we change ourselves so that we would feel like we belong. We think these things will make us happy because people will accept us more if we are pleasing to them. But life shouldn’t really work that way. We need to know that we should be happy with ourselves first, accept who we are and what we are, so that that happiness may exude and inspire other people.
3. Life is never easy. There will always be trials that you will face, no matter how hard you try to hide from it or avoid these kinds of circumstances. Life is not at all easy. Happiness does not get served to you on a plate, ready to be consumed. You must work hard for it. When challenges come, you need to work hard in order to stand back up and face life again. These things will only make you stronger, and in time, happier.
4. And it is never fair either. Life will not be fair to you, and you must live with that. There will be times when you’d feel like the universe is conspiring against you. But you’re not alone: everyone feels like this. The only reason why we feel like life isn’t fair to us is because we just don’t find the need to be contented. Life isn’t about comparing what you don’t have with what others do. It’s about being grateful, no matter how bad your situation is.
5. Changes are necessary for growth. A lot of things will change over the years. You will lose things. Your habits will change. Your skin routine will be better. People will leave. Some of these will break your heart. But all of it is necessary for your growth as a person. You will need to see change in order for you to appreciate life a bit better.
6. It’s okay to make mistakes. You’re only human, you will make mistakes. Don’t worry about what other people are going to say. Sure, there will be consequences, everything has consequences, but at the end of the day, it’s what you learn that matters. Be open to the things that you can do, even if you do it wrong the first time. Trust the process. It will be beautiful.
7. There are some things that you will not be in control of. This scares the crap out of us: that we cannot control something that, deep in our hearts, we truly want. But life is weird that way. There are some things that you will just have to be okay with, whatever the outcome is. Sometimes, it’s hard to swallow this fact. But it gets better with practice. There will be a moment when you realize that you are only getting anxious for something that you are not capable of controlling, and when that time comes, be grateful.
8. Start with the little things. Pay attention to what’s good and what’s there. Find the good in the bad and the ugly. Be positive in negative situations. Life is so much better if you can wake up every single day with a grateful heart. This will not only help you grow as a person but also help you become an inspiration to other people.
9. Do not be scared of love. Love is everywhere, we cannot fight it. It gets scary to have your heart broken. Sometimes, we tell ourselves that we will never ever love again, to always guard our hearts, to always close the doors and the windows, to never let love break us. But in order to grow, we need love. We need to love ourselves. We need to love other people. And we need to let other people love us the way we deserve.
10. And we need to let go. Let the hatred go. Let the expectations go. Learn how to forgive. Let go of the things that are stopping you from doing what you think is going to make you grow into the person you were meant to become. Let go of the worries that stop you from enjoying your day. Let go of the people who make you feel unworthy of love. Forgive yourself for all your mistakes and your flaws, because those are the things that make you beautiful. Let go of the need to please other people. Let go of comparing what you have with what people have. Let go of wanting more, and start practicing contentment. Breathe and just let go. And most of all, always thank God for the live that you have, no matter what you’re going through. Everything will fall into place at the right, in God’s will. You just have to learn to be patient. 
