Lessons I learned After You Left

I was sitting in my advertising class and my teacher mentioned the flintstones. My eyes watered up because my dad used to always draw cartoons of Fred Flintstone for me when I was growing up. I was at work during the Christmas season and a little girl walked in the store with her dad and wanted to buy her mom a pair of socks for a gift. I had to walk to the back room when they left because she held her dads hand the way I used hold my dads hand all the time. I lost my dad roughly two years ago. By two years I mean 2 years 4 months and 16 days (869 days). I don’t mean to count every day, I don’t mean to know the number by heart, but I do. And if you’ve lost someone as valuable and important to you as my dad was to me, you probably know your number as well. Although I am sad that I can’t be with my dad the way other people are with their loved ones, I am blessed that I had him to teach me about life. And not the things he taught me as I was growing up, I’m talking about the things he taught me after he had passed; for these lessons have been the most life changing lessons I’ve learned to live by every day. My dad was a wise man, and even after he’s been gone, these are the lessons he’s taught me about life, and I hope you start to live by them as well.

1. Smile when you wake up.

After I lost my person I would cry every morning and mope around the house for pretty much 4 months. It wasn’t until I returned to school the following semester that I realized I needed to pick myself up and start smiling again. I start off every day by smiling, and I guarantee you it makes all the difference. Whether I am sad, not feeling well, and yes even when I’m hungover from having one too many drinks the night before, waking up with a smile on my face makes everything that much better!

2. Live in the moment.

Don’t worry about what tomorrow will bring, or the next week, or where you will be in 5 months. Worry about what you are doing right now. If you’re in a fight with a friend, go fix it. Not tomorrow, or when they text you first, fix it now. Upset because you called your parents for advice on something and they didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear? Again, take a deep breath, calm down, and call them back. Tell them you love them. Take it from me when I say with a heavy heart, tomorrow is never promised. So call your friend, sibling, parents, or whoever and say ya love them <3

3. It’s okay to cry.

Tears do NOT mean you are weak, tears mean you are normal human being who has emotions! Let me tell ya, it feels a whole lot better to have a good cry then to walk around and hold all those emotions in. Just make sure you have some tissues close by and a friend to give you a hug and make you laugh when you’re done.

4. Dance it out.

In your room, at a wedding, on the floor at your favorite bar, in the grocery store when you hear your favorite song come on… let it out. Chances are someone will join you, or they will record you and put you on their snapchat story because you look awesome or ridiculous; either way, dance it out.

5. Stay motivated.

Always know that you are the best person you can be, and that if you want something you can get it. It may take time and a lot of work, but if you really want it then hell, go out and get it!

6. Forgive and forget.

What we forget sometimes, is that we are all human, and we make mistakes… more often than we’d like. That’s how we were made. When you make a mistake once, you learn from those lessons and don’t do it again. Say sorry and move on with life! Don’t sit there and dwell on what you should or shouldn’t have done. You are human and it will be okay. Keep your head high and move on with it, you’re awesome and shouldn’t sit in bed on a saturday night beating yourself up for a silly mistake you made. Chances are, a few years from now, or even shorter than that, it won’t matter and you will be smiling because you learned a valuable lesson!

7. Love, and be loved.

I was scared to love, in fact I ran away from it and all its beauty. I was blinded by the idea that love is a temporary feeling and that all good things must come to an end. But that’s not true at all. If you fall in love with someone, don’t be scared, be happy. For love is the purest form of happiness. Whether you choose to love yourself, the person that makes your heart skip a beat, or a large pizza… don’t be afraid. Embrace it and don’t let it go. To love someone with all your heart is a beautiful thing, and if I’ve learned anything from my past, it’s that you can truly learn a lot about yourself from loving another person. So don’t be scared when someone tells you they love you, and most definitely don’t fear letting yourself love them back.

I’ve learned a lot from my dad, for he made me look at life a lot different than I did before. I encourage you to live the most beautiful life you can and be the absolute best version of you. Don’t ever forget who you are and know that you will always continue to make mistakes along the way, and that that is perfectly okay!. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And I mean everything. Whether you just got dumped, didn’t get the job you wanted, got a bad test score, got in a fight with someone, whatever it may be that’s upsetting you right now, just know in the end everything will be okay. Go out and live your life, be giving and thankful, overuse I love you, and most importantly, live YOUR life and not someone else's.

Peace and Pizza,

Ashley

#photo