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2019 has been a pretty challenging year for me. I started it being scared and anxious about everything, and I ended it single, with new career goals and surrounded by my best friends. Here are 20 lessons (100% tested and approved) that I learned along the way!

1. People only show their best sides to you but you would be amazed by how many people share the same feelings as you

2. If you feel like you can’t be yourself around a certain group of people, then you’re hanging out with the wrong group

3. Notice people who make you feel energized and happy VS people who drain all your energy. It’ll change your life.

4. You don’t need to justify yourself when you say « no » to something

5. However, you should say yes more often to spontaneous proposals and experiences

6. Honesty is a sign of respect

7. If you don’t give your 100% to something then you’ll be less likely to get that 100% back

8. Choose flaws over qualities. Your dream job also consists in not-so-dreamy parts, and this is what you should consider when choosing your career. The same applies with friends/lovers.

9. The person you sit in front of at the library can become one of your best friends (true story for me)

10. 99% of the scenarios you imagine in your head will never happen

11. Changing starts within YOUR thoughts and how you react to them.

12. Just because you’re offended it doesn’t mean that you’re right

13. Keep a critical eye to everything you hear/see.

14. Being vulnerable is a sign of strenght and not a sign of weakness

15. You can cope with a lot more than you think

16. Your life can totally change in a year and you can be a whole different person only if you’re willing too

17. Cherish what you already have in your life, happiness lies in gratitude

18. Wanting to be perfect for others will only make you seem a boring and hypocrite person

19. The habits you adopt now will define the person you’ll be in the future

20. Be curious. Read books, listen to podcasts, travel (even in your country), and talk to new people

Laika (Russian: Лайка; c. 1954 – November 3, 1957) was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth. Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on November 3, 1957.

Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and Laika had always been intended to die.

Laika died within hours from overheating, possibly caused by a failure of the central R-7 sustainer to separate from the payload. The true cause and time of her death were not made public until 2002; instead, it was widely reported that she died when her oxygen ran out on day six or, as the Soviet government initially claimed, she was euthanized prior to oxygen depletion.

Before the launch, one of the scientists took Laika home to play with his children. In a book chronicling the story of Soviet space medicine, Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky wrote, “I wanted to do something nice for her: She had so little time left to live.”

One of the technicians preparing the capsule before final liftoff states that “after placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight.”

Oleg Gazenko, one of the scientists responsible for sending Laika into space, expressed regret for allowing her to die:

Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it … We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.

Laika is memorialized in the form of a statue and plaque at Star City, Russia, the Russian Cosmonaut training facility. Created in 1997, Laika is positioned behind the cosmonauts with her ears erect. The Monument to the Conquerors of Space, constructed in 1964, also includes Laika. On April 11, 2008 at the military research facility where staff had been responsible for readying Laika for the flight, officials unveiled a monument of her poised on top of a space rocket.

T.E. Lawrence, or “Lawrence of Arabia” with camel and Enfield rifle, circa 1917