My Annual List: What I've Learned

When I was a senior in high school, my AP English teacher asked us to write the top twenty things we’d learned at that point. I’ve repeated that activity on my birthday for the last twenty years. This year, I thought I’d share a few items from my list of things I’ve learned at 38 along with recent and not so recent reads that take me back to the lesson.

Only one person is in charge of my happiness and I should listen to her because she's smart.
Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave
​"From a compelling new voice in women's fiction comes a mother-daughter story about three generations of women who struggle to define themselves as they pursue their dreams."

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Change means movement. Movement means friction.
​The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
"A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn't lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina's offered an opportunity that could change her life. There's just one hitch...she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials."

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Giving up control doesn't mean I am giving up.
​Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid
"​Professor Victoria Reese knows an uphill battle when she sees one. Convincing her narrow-minded colleagues at the elite Pembroke University to back a partnership with the local library is a fight she saw coming and already has a plan for. What she didn’t see coming? The wildly hot librarian who makes it clear books aren’t the only thing he’d like to handle."

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Family are those people who know the worst about me and still expect the best from me.
Island Affairs by Priscilla Oliveras
"USA Today bestselling author Priscilla Oliveras launches a new romantic comedy series set in Key West, Florida and filled with humor, Latinx culture, and fun family dynamics perfect for summer beach reading…"

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If I can’t take risks with people, no other risk is worth taking.
​​Perfect Distraction by Allison Ashley
Lauren Taylor, oncology pharmacist, isn't thinking about love, especially not with the impossibly attractive man she accidentally spilled coffee all over. ​Andrew Bishop can't stop thinking about the gorgeous redhead who crashed into him and then disappeared, even though he should have way more on his mind - like dealing with his Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis​. They try to keep it professional, but sometimes life has other plans...
​40-Love by Olivia Dade
"​When a rogue wave strips Tess Dunn of her bikini top, desperate, half-naked times call for desperate, please-cover-me-kids-are-coming-closer measures. Enter Lucas Karlsson, AKA that flirty Swede in the water nearby. When he prevents her bare buoys from being exposed to fellow vacationers, even an ocean can't drown the sparks that fly."

Parenting is one part research, one part intuition and one part luck, all of it sprinkled with anxiety and why-is-this-sticky?
Hello Lovelies by ​Hayley DeRoche
When a former political communications strategist and currently a stay-at-home mom wins an all-expenses paid cruise vacation with her idol, a superstar mommy blogger, she can’t wait to connect with other moms IRL, but the cruise is not the Instagram-worthy getaway Ruthie had in mind.

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It’s okay to acknowledge that I am really good at what I do.
Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan
"Tell me it's wrong. Tell me the boy who always felt like mine is now the man I can’t have.
When we find each other again, everything stands in our way--secrets, lies, promises.
But we didn't come this far to give up now. And I know just the move to make if I want to make him mine."

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What have been the biggest lessons you've learned up to this point? Do any books take you back to it? Share them in the comments!