Hmm... Well, I'd say I've had a good life as far as external factors go. The pandemic didn't hit me too hard at first, but in the last couple of months I've started to feel kind of bad about never doing anything with people (I almost never hung out with my friends outside of school, and since I can't really see people anyways because of covid that means I pretty much never see anyone). But, even though I'm getting restless from not getting to do much, I'd say my life in general got better throughout the last year.
When I was in the 9/10th grades I can't say I had the best social skills, and I tended to latch onto people who had similar interests or who were just sort of nice to me. I didn't realize it at the time, but that meant a lot of my friendships were pretty one sided and I was a nuisance to a lot of people who I thought also wanted to be friends with me... And I was kind of insecure deep down, which I guess manifested in me acting kind of wild- I was homeschooled until the 5th grade and didn't go to a big school until the 9th, and as a homeschooled kid I didn't have many friends so my social skills were kind of rusty. The smaller schools I went to loved how over the top and wild I could be, but when I got to a big school I'm guessing people felt differently. I think they tolerated me, but a few people would say little things here and there that would hint that they didn't think highly of me, and that would hurt me deep down and I'd cry myself to sleep that night (either that or I'd make a really random level in Mario Maker, name it something like "I hate everyone", and then cry myself to sleep). Of course, looking back I really was a pretty insufferable person and I'm surprised that people were even nice to me at all. But pretty much everyone I knew from those times still respected me and treated me like an equal, and I'm glad that they were kind enough to tolerate me while I began to mature and understand how to be a better person instead of acting like a crackheaded little gremlin because I thought people would laugh.
But anyways, what made me begin to really mature that way was having to switch to virtual school. Because I wasn't surrounded by other kids, I was able to relax and not worry about every little thing I did, and I also stopped latching onto people and just kind of sat back and saw the people who were making effort to still talk to me. Now I've got a handful of people I consider my close friends, people I am confident in my friendships with and people that I'm not worrying about where I stand with them. So I'm a lot more secure now that I've established that the friends I have care about me just as much as I care about them, and I've also learned to chill out and relax in my interactions with people, and not worry that I'm annoying them (another perk of virtual school is that I know I can't get on anyone's nerves, because I'm not even there). But I'm ready to go back to school again, because I want to show all my old friends and acquaintances how I've grown, and plus I'm actually starting to miss them.
My faith has also gotten stronger within the past year. Back in March of 2020, my dog of 10 years had no chance of survival and had to be put down. She was my absolute closest friend and she meant the world to me, so you can imagine how devasted I was to lose her. But I wasn't worried that she would be gone forever, because I was absolutely certain that I would see her again, in Heaven. And I know it's a no brainer for me to feel that way, but when I was little I had a nightmare where she died and in the nightmare I felt this deep, crushing doubt in the existence of God, and was terrified that none of it was real and that I'd lose her forever if she died. But when it happened for real, I didn't feel even a shred of doubt, and was completely confident that God was real and that she would be there in Heaven, waiting for me. That really helped me though the whole thing, and I am so glad that my faith has gotten strong enough that I didn't waver in my belief when my nightmare actually happened, because it's really reassuring to know that I won't have that doubt problem anymore and that God will always be there for me.
So maybe I should actually answer the question... Yes, I like how my life is going, but if I could change anything I think I'd like to go back to the 9th grade and change the way I acted around people.
(I don't actually expect anyone to read all this, but dang, it felt good to vent. Lol.)