QOTD #1

When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you'd like them to be. Leo Tolstoy

     I stumbled upon this quote today. Loving another person really didn't cross my mind, initially. I read it and thought of loving yourself.
     You have to love the person who you are. Treat yourself how you would want others to treat you or how you treat others. Know that who you are isn't who you will always be. Don't act like something you're not and don't think that you're that future adult version of you just yet. The second's a gradual process and you're most likely not going to wake up one day being everything that you've grown up picturing yourself as. Sure, we've all got dreams of being an amazingly attractive twenty-something-year-old college student or a hard-working and successful thirty-something-year-old starting the rest of your life. If not, this is a bit awkward. But, what I'm trying to say is that we should't get ahead of ourselves and we should try to live in the moment, even though it might really suck right now. You never know if you won't make it to twenty-something or even two days from now. I think that we should always make the best of what we have and know not to deprive ourselves of as much joy and happiness as possible by putting ourselves down or imagining something of ourselves that might not come.
     Loving yourself was a topic that seemed to reoccur throughout my day as a friend was being really hard on herself. We have the main goals for ourselves to push ourselves and always be the best- get the A's, do everything that we've put on our plates, and do it better than anyone else would've done. Yes, it's kind of impossible to do every little thing, and I think I do a good job of accepting that some things just aren't going to happen the way that I want to and that's okay. I will do the best I can and whatever my best gets me, I will be happy with.
     I've come to learn to take this philosophy with me and hold it close during finals. I've had at least 5 finals throughout high school that have literally depended on me scoring an A to get and A in the class. I've wanted to give up but I never did and always put my time and effort into studying. At these crunch times I had surpassed the freaking out stage and went straight to work. I'm at a point in one class, the same as her, where we're in the same boat- a sinking boat. I am more calm and accepting of what is happening right now and understand that there is so much time before finals. There is always hope and I know that it's not the end of the world. The situation will get better, and if it doesn't, there is so much more good in my life to celebrate than to dwell about this one class. I can't tell myself that there is no other option than an A, that my life can end (unfortunately in a serious and literal sense, as well) if I fail the class. I'm really okay with a C on my transcript if that was the best I was capable of producing. My personal view on this situation is that she shouldn't have her mind set on just the A and only the A, but rather the journey to the end with a rewarding grade reflecting her personal progress and development in this foreign subject. It really isn't that big of a deal to be stressing out about on the third week of school. Nobody's life goes how they planned it would be, and that's what makes it exciting and full of ups and downs, failures and triumphs, sadness and joy. This is life, and don't forget to love yourself no matter what happens, because nobody goes through what you do but you.