23…

                      Happy birthday to me!!!❤

January 17th. Once again, the Lord has blessed me enough to make me see another year of my life. My 23 years have been a roller coaster and a walk in the park kinda experience but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I have made mistakes, grown and learnt a bunch of things that I’ll carry on with me to the next years of my life. Now, allow me to share what my 23 years have taught me because you know, sharing is caring.

• Growing up is a trap. 

I remember when I was a kid, when all I cared about was playing cha mama cha baba, watching Ed Edd and Eddy and the Tellytubbies, riding my bike in the neighbourhood and swallowing food that had stayed in my mouth for 2 hours. Life was so damn easy. I had no idea which bills my parents were paying and I didn’t care because, I mean, why would the bills concern me? Then I got tired of being a child, an adolescent… all I wanted to do was grow up, get my money and leave my parents’ house. Now here I am, an adult, done with school, looking for jobs, worrying about money and budgets, making arrangements to move out and live alone… blah blah blah. Ayamtayad! I’m literally the happiest when I’m asleep. I miss my campus days when I had the luxury of going out from Monday to Monday, living in a hostel where everything was provided for, dating for fun (or so I thought). Woah! Dear young people, I’m old now. 😅Lemme give you some free advice, enjoy your younger days while you can. Don’t be in hurry to grow up! Use your parents’ money when you can and save! You’ll definitely miss it when you get old. Ujana ni moshi.

• People come and go.

Boyfriends, girlfriends, relatives, family. Not everyone is going to move forward with you in life; you have to lose some people. There will be a time when you’ll have 10 friends and a time when you’ll have 2 friends. It’s part of growth. The beauty of life is, the world is full of people you can always meet someone new, whom you might also lose later on. Either way, it’s going to happen. So don’t worry. Those who are meant to stay will stay.

• Caring less amounts to no stress.

Seriously. At this point in my life I could care less about a bunch of things. If you think I look like a child because I’m short, thanks. If you think I’m weird because I’m obsessed with Korean culture, I don’t do normal. If you think my facial expression looks like I’d whoop ya ass, I probably would. If my honesty irritates you, bye! I gave you the blue ticks and I’ve been online 24/7, fight me. You gave me the blue ticks, I hope you don’t miss me. If you think I’m short-tempered because I’m short, don’t try me, I’m closer to hell. It’s never that serious, my friend. The only thing that matters is giving love to those who deserve. Period.

• The 20s are for mistakes.

The 20s are the time to make all kinds of mistakes. It’s the growth period. This is the time you get to know who you really are, what makes you clique, what makes you happy, dating a bunch of losers, doing some wack jobs, travelling to different places…et cetera. In my 30s, I’ll probably have the pressure of raising a kid or kids (I could be a quad team mama), paying countless bills, doing this and that. So, use your 20s to the fullest. They only come once.

• Less is more.

Talk less and listen more. Wear classy not trashy. Don’t apply too much make up and end up looking like you should be in the museum. Make silent moves without telling everyone about how you wanna make ’em silent moves. Don’t pressure yourself with 30 ‘friends’ when only 3 can show up when you’re in dire need of help. Only do more when positive results are achieved. Again, we only have one life. Better make the most of it.

• Family doesn’t have to be blood.

I know y’all can agree with me on this. Some of us communicate more with our friends than we do with our families/relatives. Your true friends are proud of your achievements, have been with you through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, while some of your relatives don’t give a damn about you, some are waiting to hear about your graduation so that they can come to you with their money problems or waiting for death to grab property. I admit I also forget about them. The point is, family entails whoever loves you for you, is there for you every time and would do anything to make sure you excel. Family doesn’t have to be defined by DNA.

• Spend money when you can.

Sometimes we are too busy saving and saving money, working too hard, sacrificing too much…to the point that we forget that there’s more to life than getting more and more money. The thing is, we’ll all die and leave the money being used by our families, or being misused, or being fought over. Money could also be stolen/lost while you’re still alive and kicking. Spend it when you can. Travel to places you’ve never been before, eat foreign delicacies, do a bunch of fun stuff. Remember, from soil we were made, to soil we will go back.

• Don’t overthink it. Just do it.

I can tell you that I am an expert at overthinking useless things. I could rethink about killing an ant or a bug and wonder if they could have a family waiting for them, so I just throw them outside or whatever (unless it’s a disturbing mosquito/fly then I’ll slap it’s zzzz to death); that’s the level of my overthinking. I am a person who can lose sleep over what will happen in future. I spend some of my time thinking and not living and doing. It shouldn’t be like that. We should live in the moment and hope and pray for the future. Do the things you wanna do now without overthinking whether they’ll amount to anything. We might miss out on the best things trying to figure out the unknown.

• Take risks.

Start that business you’ve been dreaming about; it might be the best thing yet. Start that blog/vlog you’ve been postponing every now and then. Talk to that guy/girl you’ve been crushing on; they might actually like you back. Call your ex and tell them thank you for leaving you. If any of it fails, then at least you tried and won’t have to worry about the what ifs. You have to fail once in a while, then learn from the mistakes. If some people don’t like what you’re doing, that is their problem.

• Character is everything.

I always say this. It doesn’t matter if you look like Priyanka Chopra or Dylan O’brien (I’m lying I love him till death do us part😁) or whoever you find cool/hot, it doesn’t matter if you can afford to spend 100k for a night out/trip… if your character is trash, you’re trash all round. Guys, like I said I obsess about the future and I believe sometimes it’s important to think about the future. If you get together with someone just because of worldly things or physical appearance, it’s bound to fail. If you think I’m lying, experience is always the best teacher.

• My life is mine.

People tend to think they own you, they should have an opinion about how you should live your life, who you should be friends with, who you should date/marry, why you should laugh or cry, what job you should do or what body size you should be. Your happiness will come from you. If you battle with your own mind, and finally get depression over what people think your life should entail, well, it’s clear as day what is bound to happen. Just live your life, it’s short… unless you are the Goblin.😜

• Leave the past where it belongs. 

Some things are better off left and forgotten. If an experience was not worthwhile, forget about it and find something better to worry about. If you lost that guy/girl to someone else, it’s probably for the best. If you didn’t get something you really wanted, it’s still probably for the best. Dwelling on the past always hinders growth and moving forward. At the end of the day, if something is yours, it will eventually come back to you.

• Don’t be afraid to fail.

Nobody is perfect or will ever be perfect. Failure has to happen at various points in life. You fail, you learn. This is actually what I’m telling myself since I’m waiting (not really waiting I hope they come out in 2030) for my bar exam results. If I fail, I’ll just re-do the papers. After all, if you repeat something more than once it sticks in the head (me consoling myself). Failure postpones your success. The most successful people in the world failed a bunch of times before they achieved what they were aiming for. Take for example the founder of KFC, Colonel David Sanders or the creator of Harry Porter, J.K. Rowling. Check out their journeys then you’ll know what I mean.

• Be open to new things.

Some of us have been going to the the same chill spots since BC i.e before Christ. I know, it probably feels like home, but there are other better and nicer places which won’t hurt if you go. It also won’t hurt to try new things. I actually hope to do a few things later on in life, like taking cooking classes where they teach how to cook foreign delicacies (not ugali and mukimo), baking classes and maybe learn a foreign language (which is obviously Korean). New things make life more exciting and make you hope for another day. If you are not up to doing new things and you’re just locked up in your comfort zone, get out. It will be fun and worthwhile.

• Haters will always hate.

I would love to know my haters. The thought that somebody hates me for being me or for my achievements has a good feel to it, I can’t explain it. The best part about having haters is, if you’re my hater it means I’m on your mind. That makes me pretty special. So keep up, everybody loves knowing they’re special. Well, unless you’re planning something illegal against me then keep away from me lucifer!

• Being young is a blessing.

If you didn’t know, I’m 23 now. You can do the math and get to know the year of birth. Now the thing is, some of y’all act like the most mature humans just because you’re a ’90, ’91, ’92 born yet we are on the same level at life; like you’re the most experienced people while the rest of us are children who look 12 and don’t need to relate with you grown ups. News flash! Any person born in the year 2000 is 18 years old now. Dear 1990 person, in 2 years you’ll be 30. I’ll be 25. You’re old. Get you a ’90 born bae and start a family, fossils one side!😂 You’ll be wishing you were me. Okay, I probably went all out there but oh well, my point is made.

• God always first.

In all honesty, sometimes I feel like my faith has diminished greatly just because something I want doesn’t seem to work out, or maybe I lose something meaningful to me. It even gets hard for me to say a prayer because I’ll think, what for? Then I realize, I’m still here, living and surviving, taking life one step at a time. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. In short, put God first, no matter how hard it gets. He can never give you burdens you can’t handle.

• If doesn’t make you happy, leave it.

Leave that stupid ass boyfriend who’s giving you hell; your man is probably in the ancestor-zone and you’re too blind to see it. Leave that job that makes you feel depressed. Leave anything that’s not adding any value to your life. I remember I quit a job that was hindering my progress and that day I just decided I’m not waking up to go to work. So I woke up at 11.00 a.m. (should have been at work by 6.30 a.m.). I dressed up in my official clothes, went to work and one of the supervisors asked me why I was that late. So I just went to straight to the point and said I’m leaving for good. Truth be told, I’ve never regreted it. This will probably sound clichè, but good mental health is paramount and it’s not something to forego just because you settled for what you don’t want. Depression is no joke. Again, it all gets back to the clichè saying, life is short.

• Keep your love life private.

After some observation, people who really don’t know me enough either think I’m in a serious relationship or I’ve never dated in my life (I wonder why). Leaving room for people to wonder is satisfying. I know we’ve seen people post their entire love life on social media and later delete everything. Posting lovey dovey things about me and whoever I’m dating on social media doesn’t work for me, leading to everyone all up in my business. The relationship is between two people, not me, him and other noseys. However, I do like seeing couples progressing in their relationships and become goals. It all comes to preference. If it works for you, well and good. I just feel like everything that happens in your love life shouldn’t be a public concern.

• Silence speaks volumes.

Learn to listen to silence. If someone is giving you silent treatment then you know something’s up. You can either confront the matter or leave it depending on the situation. Silence speaks the most of which cannot be seen/heard.

• I love my flaws.

I love the fact that I obsess over the future, I’m brutally honest, impatient, short-tempered… these flaws make me real. They make me know who’s really down for me no matter how difficult I can be because they sieve out those bringing me down. Embrace your flaws. After all, not everyone has to like you.

• True love exists.

I know some of you have probably dated some worthless human beings who made you feel irrelevant and unappreciated. You’ve been a victim of toxic relationships and situationships. You’ve now given up and have decided to revenge, play them all, fuck ’em then get some money or never give a f*ck about anyone in that manner. You just have to be patient. That’s all. Then when you find love, make an effort to keep it. Pray on it. Stop giving up just because you argued over petty things. In fact, if you don’t argue once in a while with your significant other, know that you’re very single. If you argue all the damn time…💣💣 single. My point… be patient, work on yourself in the meantime then it will find you.

Rosekook

• Love yourself.

On this earth, the only love you are sure to be 100% honest is the one you give yourself (in addition to God’s love). If you can’t love yourself, your can’t love other people. You can’t get what you really want in life and you can’t give what you don’t have. This entails not having to sacrifice your happiness and well-being for the sake of others. It’s never a crime to think about yourself first, but don’t be selfish.

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Happy 2018 everyone!!!

P.S: I love gifts. 😄