The past year was the year where I grew up the most. Looking back at this exact same time last year, I realise now how utterly innocent and ignorant I was of everything. Relationships, friendships, the world, people. The past year gave me a lot that contributed to my maturing, it gave me heartbreaks, betrayals, happiness, excitement, stress, guilt, hope, and dashed hopes. I've always been a strong person, I'm not someone prone to crying, and this past year has actually made me tear up on more than one occasion. Heck, more than ten occasions! After experiencing all the ups and downs, I am glad that I lived through all those. They are the things that have made my life meaningful and colourful. Nothing can always be perfect in life, there are always problems, and living through these problems, solving them, manning them out, this is what makes my life one worth living. This year, I have lived through more than I have ever lived through in the past 16 years combined. I have always been coddled and sheltered, and this year was the first year I got to venture out of the cocoon. Not that much, but enough to make me more aware of the world beyond and grow up just a bit more.

So many things I have learnt, so many things that I have never thought were true. Now I know the power of experience and age. I never trusted someone's experiences and advice, because I always thought that everyone was different and I could just be the exception to the rule. No matter how many people older than me came up to me to give me advice, I wouldn't take it. I am that kind of person, I don't believe something until I tried it myself and got burned. This year was my chance to try it and get burned. That's how I learn, and once I learnt it, I realise that everyone's advice was right, and I was too innocent and ignorant to recognise the advice for the wise words they were.

This year, I found wonderful friends, and I discovered who were truly my friends, and who were not. I value each and every one of my friendships greatly, and in return, they value me greatly. I realised that this is the kind of friendship I want, the kind that will last through the test of time. I take friendship very seriously, and I will not waste my time and effort working on a friendship with someone who couldn't care less. I can share my problems with my friends, and in return I can provide them with a listening ear and comfort them as much as I can. I can have lots of fun with them, and when I'm with them, I don't feel like going anywhere. I know that even as we take different paths, we will still keep in touch and remain close friends for years to come. It's not easy to find such friends, so I will not take them for granted.

I learnt that I'm not ready for some things, and even though it seems all magical and right at the start, there will come a time where all it does is to give you sadness and regret. The best thing to do, is to stay away from them, until I am mature enough to go into it with full knowledge of the consequences, as well as the time and effort required for it. I learnt that by making the wrong, uninformed choice, I hurt not only myself, but also those around me, the people who love me, the people whom I love. I never knew I had the power to cause so much hurt, and seeing it just scares me. I don't want to ever cause hurt like that again, and I know that if I get into some things before I'm ready, I will just cause more people more hurt. I've been burned, I've learnt my lesson.

I also learnt just how wonderful it feels to be appreciated and valued. In this year, I have helped and comforted many people, listened to many, and gave advice when it was sought for. I don't ask for anything in return, a simple 'thank you' is enough to make me happy. It's a feeling that no amount of material goods can give. When people come to me for help, I feel useful, I feel like they recognise that there is some value in me, and I love to help them out, empathize with them if it is something I myself have gone through before. I love feeling that I can contribute to something, so all I ask for is for those whom I help to not take me for granted, to not come to me only when they have problems, but to treat me as a person, a friend, that they can not only have fun with, but can look to for assistance. Being given sincere appreciation for something you have put in effort for is something so fulfilling in itself that no other returns are required.

Now, I know what I want in my life for the next year. I want to commit to the things that I love to do, the people I love, commit to my future. I will study hard, and play hard, both with my family and friends. I will spend some time for myself to do the things that I find fun, and relaxing. This is what would make me happy.