What I learned living on my own

Who would think that writing a story after a 1000 miles drive would be something to do. My creativity is quite rare, so I cherish and act upon these moments when I can.
My last 12 months have proved to be a test of what I have learnt within those 9 years of living on my own plus the personality I built over the years.
Please bear in mind this is not by any chance a guide on how to live, but maybe you can find a thing or 2 for yourself.
Here are some interesting things I found out:

1. You are your own captain and the ship.
   The moment I started developing my character at age 14, I had not much control over my life. Whilst being engaged in being a 3rd parent at home to support my mother and father, I also wanted to graduate from a good school. Coming from a poor family meant every chance would count.
   However instead of around I looked upon myself one day, and God bless the day I had done that.
   That has opened a lot of opportunities towards the adulthood horizon. The funny thing I did not know at that point (it eventually came later), that no matter what your parents will tell you, you can have your own judgement on things. Furthermore, you can even take multiple perspectives to find the right one for you. That can be done for everything you do in life and whoever you meet and choose to listen.
2. Take your time
   This one mostly applies to feelings, but not just them. I am actually on the opposite spectrum as the time is the most valuable resource for me and I trade it in scarce amounts.
   Learn to see how you process stuff and give yourself space to do it. You are not just conscious mind, there is stuff below, and time allows layers underneath to process the events. Who knows, maybe something new would come out
3. Take care
   Of yourself, of your finances, of your health, family and whatever matters to you. There was time where from pushing myself to the limits of the impossible I lost the joy in life and had to take baby steps to regain balance. Same comes to money. It’s easy to spend, not so easy to earn.
4. Fear is just an illusion
   I could count a lot of things in here: overcoming being shy, leaving comfort zone etc. But what I learnt during the attempts of fighting the drawbacks, was that fear was just the fear, nothing else. On the other side was just silence, and the next steps.
5. Never back down — failure is a chance
   I started from poor family, borrowing 250 euros from my mum, with no driving license, some quite low results from the college. I failed twice to get to a university abroad, and managed to do it the 3rd time. If you ever fail, focus on what went wrong, and the root cause of it, and try again.
6. Keep on learning, challenging, and improving