20 Lessons I've learned (in no particular order)

I know I've probably talked about some of this stuff in previous posts, but here's twenty things I have learned in the past twenty years:
1-Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself
You know those days that are just like a comedy of errors? That was definitely last Saturday for me (even though the day was amazing). As you go through it, as you're late for stuff, and as you trip over nonexistent things (admit it - it happens to you, too), you just have to smile and shrug it off. I have definitely been in the position where I hold onto it for such a long period of time that it bugs me for weeks or months. It is so not worth it. Just let it go, shrug it off, and if you have to, laugh at yourself. It's a lot more fun to laugh than to cry, promise. I've done both and laughing cleanses your soul a lot faster.
2-Be confident in who you are/Make new friends and be social/extroverted - it's really fun, promise
If you had told me a few years ago that I was going to be a very outgoing person by the time I was twenty, I would have laughed. Hysterically. I would have asked, "Me? You're kidding, right? Have you not seen me in situations where I don't know anyone? I don't talk, I don't meet people. I just stand there and keep to myself." Looking back on the past year where I have made it my goal to meet people and be more social, I am amazed. I do not regret that decision, at all. I love my friends and I hope they are still up for putting up with my weirdness. I love the people I have met and gotten to know. Those people have blessed my life so much since I have started college and I hope that I can remain friends with them for a really long time.
And just be confident in who you are, what you stand for, what you look like, and why you are the way you are. Confidence is a liberating thing. Once you have found your confidence, use it. It's kind of like a testimony - if you don't use it, you lose it. Don't lose your confidence. Or you testimony, for that matter.
3-Heavenly Father is always there for me and truly loves me
True fact. I know that He is always there for me and is truly concerned with how I am doing in my life. He knows me better than I know myself. He knows my weaknesses, my strengths, my true desires, and how (and who) I really am. He wants me to return to Him and wants me to be happy. I know that by following His commandments, I can be happy. I know that - I have tried it for myself and know that is true.
4-My family is amazing and they love me so much
My family - what can I say about my family that can be expressed in words? I love my family so much. That has been realized in the past year since I have come to college. They care about me and love me. I love them, so much. Did I already say that? I'll say it again - I LOVE MY FAMILY! They are the best family that I could have been put with on this earth. I love my parents - they are always there for me and I can tell them anything. I also love my siblings and their spouses and kids. My siblings - you get us together, with our parents, and we have a blast. Humor, sarcasm, and music abound when the Conovers get together. We had a family reunion in July and all of us (except one of my brother-in-laws) were home. I forgot how fun it is when you get the original family together with all their kids and spouses. It was so fun. My brother-in-laws and sister-in-law are amazing - they fit right in with our family. One of my nephews said a couple of times, "Michelle, I missed you so much." I almost cried. I said I missed him, too. I love my nieces and nephews. They are the most adorable kids in the world. I'm an aunt - I can say that. =]
Family - they're important, amazing, and I love them. For all time and eternity, I'll love them. Through thick and thin, I'll love them.
5-My friends are just as weird as I am and it's perfectly fine to BE weird/Friends are some of the best people to have in your life to experience stuff with
I love my friends. They put up with my quirks, oddities, weirdness, and just me in general. And doing stuff with your friends makes the friendship that much more awesome. Examples of stuff you can do with your friends (and stuff I've done with mine) - photo shoots on a random swing in Pleasant Hill, watch Thor in 3D and sneak in cookie-dough to a movie theater, stay up till 2 in the morning just laughing, lightsaber battles, make fun of Twilight, quote Harry Potter and every Disney movie in existence, sing "We Are Young" at the top of your lungs, play with sparklers, dance in the rain, pancake breakfasts, Costco trips, homework in the library (do only during finals...), ultimate Frisbee, snowball fights, go on a zipline, go down giant water-slides, make a movie list and watch all the movies on that list, go to Jamba Juice, sing Muse at the top of your lungs in the car, stay in Disneyland for 18 hours straight, play Truth or Dare, go bowling and be awesome at it (as in bowl backwards and get a strike), go country dancing, go to Brick Oven pizza and drink root beer, fit seven people in a five person car, go disco roller-skating, go ice-skating, go to Olive Garden, get Creamery ice cream together, watch fireworks, have a BBQ, and manage to stay alive through all of it. Just have an awesome time together with your friends.
6-Moving on is one of the best feelings
Emotionally letting go of the things is the best thing in life. Or, one of the best things. Especially when the stuff you were going through was especially bad. Just moving on from bad experiences feels so relieving and liberating that you wonder why anyone would think of the bad stuff. (then you remember that the bad stuff has helped you learned about life)
7-Enjoy the little things in life
"It's the little things that count" as my high school freshman biology teacher said one cold day when my friend and I were appreciating the heater in his classroom. Enjoy the little things, people! The little things in life are the things that make life awesome. "Tender mercies" if you want to use Elder Bednar's phrasing. I love the little things in life - a pretty sunrise/sunset, little flowers, someone wearing yellow shoes, bubble-wrap, a hug, Hans Zimmer music, finger-painting, an old book, whistling, and sourdough bread. Enjoy the little things and look for the blessings in your life and life will be a lot happier.
8-Play nice and share
 Sharing is caring and not sharing is just lame. End of story.
9-Stress is important and it's good to know how to handle it
That might sound counter-intuitive. But at Education Week, my mom, sister and I went to a class and we learned that stress was divinely inspired. Yes, you read that right. It’s there to help us grow. It might not seem like it, but it’s true. I’m still getting used to stress as much as the next person, but I know that it will help me grow as an individual.
10-You can be a science nerd and a science-fiction writer at the same time (hard sciences and liberal arts DO mix)
I love physics, chemistry, and biology. I also love music, writing, baking, and dancing. So when it comes to choosing a major, things get tough. But in everyday life, those things can mix. You can figure out the acoustics in music. You can talk about the momentum and torque in dancing. You can talk about chemistry in baking cookies. I love how the hard sciences and liberal arts CAN go together and work hand in hand.
11-Music is good for the soul
I love music – it was my middle and high school experience. Trips to Seattle, San Diego, Disneyland, Reno, and Washington D.C. have shown me how wide-spread the language of music is. Music has helped me through some pretty hard experiences. Music can always make me feel better (especially if it is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Hans Zimmer). Music – good music – can heal an emotionally wracked soul (that and prayer). Music calms the soul – maybe dubstep doesn’t – but good music does good things for the soul. Like chicken soup for the soul, except in music form.
12-Smile - it's good for you.
Smiling is amazing. Did you know that by smiling – even if you force yourself to smile – it releases endorphins that make you happier? So, literally, smiling is good for you. And it makes other people smile, making other people smile, and making other people happy, too. So it’s a perpetual machine of happiness. So it’s good for you and those around you.
13-Have a hobby you love to do and do as well as you can at it
My hobby is writing and music. I know that I am decently good at music and music theory. Jazz and wind ensemble have told me that much. Writing, I only know what my friends have told me. I love both of these hobbies. Writing helps me work on writing essays – even though writing is always a work in progress – and music calms my soul (see point 11). I consider these two of my main talents and I will always work to be better at them. I love both and I am determined to continue to work on both of them.
14-Working feels a whole lot better than sitting around and doing nothing
This past summer I learned that when I work really hard on something, I feel good about myself and I feel like I am accomplishing stuff. I know that when I am lazy and am not doing anything, I get sad and self-absorbed. I know that when I am “anxiously engaged in a good cause” – whether that be service, education, Mary Kay, what have you – I am in a better mood and am a better person.
15-Write in your journal - you'll want to remember the good things and what you learned from the bad things
Even if you're just writing five blessings that happen in your life during the day, that's better than not writing anything. I need to work on this, but I notice that when I recognize the blessings in my life, I am so much happier. During devotionals the past couple of weeks at BYU, I've noticed a theme of staying positive and being optimistic about the future. In those talks, it has been mentioned - multiple times - that a journal should be kept of blessings throughout our lives. I believe in this and know it to be true. And even if you write down the bad things, you'll be able to know what you learned from those experiences. Learning is a good thing. It's hard to go through the bad stuff, but it's so worth it.
16-Learn to love yourself
No, I don’t mean this in a selfish or self-absorbed way. I mean be confident in who you are and what you look like. I have only just recently felt comfortable walking around without makeup or wearing my crazy curly hair down without really doing anything to it. I feel comfortable as myself around other people. Learn to love your personality and rock it. Be awesome at who you are. Yes, don’t completely scare potential friends with people by being your full-on crazy self that usually occurs at 11 at night or later, but don’t put on a fake mask and then completely change who you are. Love yourself, and others will learn to love you, too.
17-Read everyday - it helps you stay imaginative and it's a lot better than video games
I love reading. Of all the hobbies and things I have done in the past however many years, reading is the only one that has stayed consistent during that time. As my roommate says (really bad paraphrase coming up), reading gets you out of your own situation and puts you into someone else's and it relaxes you. Even if that book is about a post-apocalyptic society where children are forced to fight to the death (Hunger Games) it's still "relaxing" to think about something else other than your own problems.
And writing helps, too. Creating a new story that hasn't been created or written yet is an amazing feeling. And again, it helps with relaxing and getting out of your own problems.
18- Sometimes life doesn't do what you think it will do
 True fact. For example, I didn't think that I would ever be a Mary Kay consultant. But I am. I never thought that I would be undecided about my major in my second year of college. I still am. I have realized that life throws curve balls at you and you just have to "roll the play-dough" (as my sister says) and "sometimes we do hard things". Life is good, everybody. My philosophy right now is that, in the short term, life is hard but in the long run, everything is going to turn out all right. Promise.
19-Unplug once in a while- just have fun with who you're with and with what you're doing
I know that everyone has a cell phone and...wait - where's my cell phone? [looks frantically for five minutes, then finds it - really, this did happen]
I know I feel lost without my phone and that's how I stay connected with a lot of people. But, sometimes, you should unplug from texting, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to get to know the people you're with. It's fun to interact with people in person and to talk with them. (wait, talking? In person? What is this madness?) Yes. Talking in person. You learn a lot and there's less confusion as to what the person actually meant. And it's just more fun in general.
20-Sometimes you have to fail before you succeed (like learning to walk and riding a bike)
Sometimes, failure is definitely an option. You may have to fail at some things before you get them right. We’ve all been there. I doubt that there are any people that succeeded at walking the first time they tried it when they were a little kid. Or riding a bike – we’ve all biffed it at one point or another. I’ve learned this through little failures that I’ve been through. I think, if you don’t fail at some things, you’re not branching out enough. You’re not taking many risks. Life is a giant risk so if you don’t intentionally take some, then you’re not living to your full potential. You sometimes have to step out into the dark a few steps before you fully know what you’re doing or know where you are in life. Take a few risks and if you’re going to fail, fail fantastically.

Reason for this: it's my 20th birthday! Yay! And I thought I'd share some of the things I have learned in my mere two decades of being alive.
Hope everyone is having an awesome day today! And thank you for all the birthday wishes.