1. I’ll know one day, why.

There are things that I don’t understand about the world and myself. Why certain things have happened to me, I can only assume. But as humans, that can’t find out everything they want to know at a certain moment, I deeply hope that I’ll know one day, why. 

2. Most famous politicians have blood on their hands.

This applies to annoying democrats and dumb republicans. They’re all dirty and they all make easy money. I give full respect to politicians who work for the people, and not for themselves. 

3. It’s not too late to love the ones near me. 

Sometimes we forget that we have people who care about us and people who are willing to fight for us, right beside us. It took some time to notice but it’s never too late to start to stop looking ahead to the better and actually appreciate the people beside me. Ironically, that’s when I started to have more people next to me. 

4. Why don’t they just hire a robot, if his “job” is all he’s doing?

A lot of people tell me, “Oh he or she is just doing their job.” However, I feel like it has become an excuse for the lack of life and emotion when it comes to people doing their “job”. If your job is all you going to do, why don’t we just hire a robot to do it for you? I believe that people should be able to go beyond their “job” and maybe express some things that robots can’t. Like maybe some empathy? Or some sympathy? Or just at least some emotion. You don’t need to make it that clear that the only reason you’re there is for the money.

5. It’s a blessing to be “okay.”

When someone asks us, hey how are you? We say I’m okay and take that for granted. The fact that we can say we’re okay is a blessing and is something we should be thankful for. 

6. I’m not, and I don’t want to be alone.

Sometimes things may work out better by yourself. Without anyone to help you, or interfere with you. However, people who live with the mentality that they can do everything alone, are the people who will burn out faster than anyone else in the room. You are not, and you do not want to be “alone”.

7. It’s not my job to bring back a person that isn’t there anymore.

If someone has changed, or left, or is just not with you anymore, some of us, look at it like a cue for us to run to them and bring them back. When it’s really not our job. We often catch ourselves chasing after something that is not there anymore. It takes time to realize this, but it is not my job, or anyone else’s to bring back someone that isn’t there anymore. 

8. Make peace with the past so it doesn’t script the present.

Things such as mistakes that we make in the past could one day come back and haunt us. To be honest, this is one of my biggest fears. That my mistakes from the past will come back and damage the now. I feel like to deal with this fear, I genuinely just had to embrace my mistakes and face them. Take accountability for my actions. Rewrite it while you can. 

9. Appreciate what you have- it could be gone any day, anytime.

I think once you start to appreciate what you have, you start to get more things to appreciate. Realizing how privileged we really are and how much of a headstart we have in life is really important. I realized this a little too late and when I feared that I could actually lose everything in a situation I was in, that’s when it hit. 

10. I’m happy.

It’s definitely a good feeling, knowing you’re happy. The healthy kind that actually lasts and is being sprouted off of a strong support system and having at least one thing to look forward to every day. I might not always be happy but I know there will at least be a good chunk of the day where I am. It’s been a long time coming but yes, I am happy. 

11. You may be crazy, but I’m crazier.

I’ve been really hyper lately. I don’t know if it’s the happiness lifting up my energy but goodness gracious. It’s hard. Being natural “do it without thinking person”. I definitely got the Yolo mindset when I was little because I don’t know why I just can’t control myself sometimes. It decreases my stress though. Doing something crazy and something that “isn’t aloud”.  I love it when people challenge me, see how far someone can go, but I always win. It’s just the mindset I was born with. If you do something bad to me, I’ll do something worse and top it. Then they top me, and then I do something crazy. It’s definitely come in handy at times though. It’s great when someone actually crosses me in a really hurtful way and you know the craziest way to get back at them. I’ve faced off with some crazy people this year but let me tell you, I was crazier. 

12. Don’t listen to the media.

The media can say a lot of good things, and then go south and say some crazy things. Either way, I think the media is biased to one side, and to be honest yes you are allowed to be biased. However, that’s not how the world is. Shifted to one side. Everyone has different opinions ranging from polar left to the coast of right. I want to be a person that can balance this out and be able to talk to all the people with all opinions and not say “ew.” and walk away from someone just because of something they said. I’m gonna meet different people with different perspectives and I want to prepare myself for that. However over the past years, while I try to develop an even more open mind, the media has become so biased that I simply can’t listen anymore. 

13. You can never go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.

I can never change how I started at 13. I can never change how the beginning of 2020 went. Can run back and change 6 months into 13. I can only start now. 10 days before turning 14. I can also change how I start at

14. These are thirteen things that Daniel Oh learned at thirteen. 

2019 11/20- 2020 11/20