what is this even i dont know

I’m surrounded by good advice that sounds good but never actually gets implemented. From self-help books that encourage me to prioritize and the Wu-Tang Clan telling me to protect my neck, it’s difficult to sort out which pieces of advice are in the most dire need of implementation in my life. Moreover, advice that sounds good in theory often falls short in practice: the encouragement to “keep my head up” is muddled in daily life as I don’t know where the principle begins and ends (do I keep my head up even when I’m depressed? Can I not be honest about my vulnerability, even though revealing my weaknesses may be the starting point of amending them?). A pithy phrase encouraging me to not care what other people think is not enough to reverse the painful feeling of being threatened that I sometimes experience when surrounded by people I am not familiar with. I’d argue that advice like this is dangerous more than it is helpful. Recommendations to follow broad and high-reaching advice like “keep your head up” or “don’t care what other people think” are useful only to people with mild infections of low self-esteem or feelings of social isolation. These goals are far too lofty and broad for the people who need real help and seek advice that will arm them with the tools to deal with their daily struggles. The inability to follow the above high-standard creeds can lead to more frustration, increased stress, and a deeper feeling of insufficiency within the individual needing useful advice.
The following are, in my opinion, more practical and applicable pieces of advice that can be applied in a variety of situations and guide the advice-receiver to a reachable goal. They are recommendations that have been given to me and benefited me, which, given the small percentage of counsel that I am receptive to, is perhaps a miracle.

1) Write down your goals and outline the steps necessary to achieve them.

2) Be realistic. Don’t tell yourself things that you know aren’t true. Sometimes reality is ugly and you have to acknowledge that before you can deal with the situation at hand and progress. On the flip side, sometimes we overestimate how ugly things really are.

3) At the same time, stop catastrophizing everything. Stop turning one bad incident into a projection about yourself and your entire life. Stop making every little thing a big deal. Stop assigning more importance to things than they deserve.

4) Recognize what is outside of your control and let it go.

5) An extension of #4. You will never reach a state where everything goes your way. You don’t have 100% control. You are never going to get every little thing that you want. Don’t cry when things don’t end up the way you wanted or expected. See #7. This does not, however, invalidate #9.

6) Don’t tie your happiness with how outside conditions are going. They aren't designed to please you. Accept that bad things sometimes happen, that the immediate situation is ugly but impermanent, and keep your happiness.

7) Don’t cloud reality with expectations. Expectations lead to sorrow when they don’t turn out how you anticipated. Thus, get rid of them.

8) Don’t associate your identity with physical possessions.

9) Don’t be helpless or hopeless. Things can change. You can direct your life toward the direction you want. You can achieve your goals. If you want something, work for it. Your life is defined by you.

10) Think every day about how big the universe is and how minuscule your problems are in comparison.

11) Forgive yourself.

12) Don’t be afraid to be honest about your problems and ask for help.

13) The American standard for success is bull. You’re successful when you reach your own goals and feel confident. Screw being beautiful and rich.

14) It’s okay to be introverted. Really.

15) Stay on yuh grindd, ya 'nahh mean.

Since the assignment is to pick one, I guess I’m violating it by saying that 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, and 12 have been the most important to me lately. My self-worth is inherent and there is still hope for my future. I can be happy without everything going my way. At the same time, I need help and I need to stop pretending that I don’t. I can’t do everything.  That’s kind of hard for me to grasp at the moment. But I'm getting there. I don't know what else to say so I'm gonna end this horribly embarrassing post here.