Living to the Fullest: Can a Teenager do it?

Note from Adrian: Today's guest post comes from my sister, Tanna Waller. She's an aspiring writer and singer, and has a rockin' awesome YouTube channel that you should subscribe to. Enjoy her post and leave her some love in the comments section!

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I’m seventeen years old.

I’m too young. Too naïve. Too ignorant or innocent.

In many peoples’ minds, I’ve hardly lived life at all.

But in my short seventeen years I’ve learned many things.

I’ve learned that you have to give to get. Not everyone is going to like you, no matter how hard you try. You have to treasure the moments you have with your loved ones because there will never be enough of them. I’ve learned that family, friends, and even your enemies are all important, and all deserve to be loved.

I’ve learned that life is about adapting, about changing, and about making the best out of any situation, no matter how hopeless it may be.

Take my brother, for instance. He has a ferret on his face – you know, that thing he calls a beard. People tell me that it’s weird, or that he needs to shave it. Maybe that it’s not “Christian” or “Godly.” But I say, Power to The Ferret. If that’s what makes my brother happy, then so be it; that’s what should make everyone happy.

Take my sister. She got pregnant when she was seventeen (the same age I am, in case you didn’t catch that). She was too young, naïve, ignorant, innocent. But she got pregnant, and she had that child, and her son is my favorite person in the world. It wasn’t the best situation, but we have always made the best out of it.

Now take my father. He died when I was thirteen. Before he died, he wasn’t always a steady figure in my life. He wasn’t always the best person to be around, and he didn’t always do the best things. But I loved him. I loved him with all of my heart, and I still do. He was taken tragically from my life, and from my family’s lives, but we’ve made the best out of that situation.

My family and I have realized that we need to show each other love, and be kind to each other. For instance, every Friday, my dad’s side of the family and I get together and have dinner. The pizza is terrible, but I treasure those Friday nights because I don’t know how many more of them I’ll have.
I treasure my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my siblings, and my mother, because I have no idea when any of them will be taken from me.

So, I’m seventeen. I don’t know anything, but I do know how to love. I know how to give. I know how important every person in my life is. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because that’s what living life to the fullest is all about.

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Questions: What did living life to the fullest look like for you when you were 17? How different was it from the life that Tanna describes here? 

This guest post was part of a guest post series called "Living to the Fullest." Interested in joining in? I'm still looking for submissions! Just write up a post, or even just an idea, and e-mail it my way.