Why didn't somebody tell me this sooner

can’t make ends meet?

What I wish somebody had told me back then is you should start figuring out who you are, what you love doing, and what you believe in when you’re young. Clarity about your hobbies, interests, and values will ensure you don’t just dissolve away when you’re in relationships (romantic or friendly) with other people.

kind of hard to figure out exactly what you’re passionate about doing in your spare time.)

There’s actually research on this that found that athletes who finished in second place at the Olympic Games (who are mentally comparing themselves to the athletes who finished first and thinking things like, “Ugh, I was so close to winning gold!”) are actually less happy than the athletes who finished in third place (who are comparing themselves to the athletes who didn’t make it onto the medal podium at all). You’d think that silver medal winners wo

When you take little things like these for granted, it’s easy to focus all your mental energy, instead, on what you don’t have and to feel sorry for yourself. When you do this, it makes you greedy for the things you don’t have but also don’t need (more money, a n

“If you hold on tight to what you think is your thing, you may find you’re missing all the rest.”

As an attempt to appear absolutely perfect (in volleyball and in other parts of my life), I became unwilling to make mistakes, unwilling to look silly, unwilling to try new things, and I created anxiety for

Edward Deci & Richard Flaste’s (1995) book Why we do what we do: Understanding self-motivation.

It doesn’t have to follow the plan of your parents, your religion, your community, or anyone else…it can be something you create from scratch, tailored to you and you alone.

decisions help or hurt you, both now and in the future. You can sit on the sidelines and watch other people live their lives or you can choose to show up and be the writer, director, and star for your own.