We Miss You: 15 Life Lessons Aaliyah Taught Us

Today, August 25, 2016 is the 15th anniversary of singer Aaliyah's death.

It's pretty hard to let this sink in. It seems like only the other day that we got the tragic news of her fatal plane crash after its departure from the Bahamas.

After she wrapped up shooting her "Rock The Boat" music video, the singer and eight of her friends and employees; and the pilot decided to board the flight and come back home to the states.

However, they never made it. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed landed and Aaliyah died on the spot. She was only 22 at the time.

It would later be discovered that the plane the singer and the other passengers were all on was overpacked. Along with the pilot, there were 9 passengers on board, in total. According to a Cessna Aircraft Co. spokesperson, the specific two-engine aircraft Aaliyah was on was only meant to have six people onboard, maximum.

Roc-A-Fella co-founder Dame Dash was the star's boyfriend at the time. Just a few months ago, he even revealed that Aaliyah felt uncomfortable about the plane. "She told me she was going to the Bahamas and I was against it, like 'Yo don't go,'" Dame admitted. "Down to the last Blackberry [message] that we had, before she went there, she said, "Yo, I don't like that plane.'"

He continued: "I was like 'Don't get on it.' It was a complicated situation. If I was there, I would've made sure that, the jet that was supposed to be there for her, she would've been on that."

Now 15 years after the tragic loss, the world still remembers Aaliyah for being the beautiful, talented, incredible person she was. If you think about it, in her short-lived time on Earth, she's taught us a few things that we can carry with us in our day-to-day lives.

By just the little things she said in past interviews and songs, we can definitely take her words of wisdom and make them work for us all these years later. Let's take a look at these 15 life lessons Aaliyah's taught us with her amazing, inspirational quotes.

1) "I stay true to myself and my style, and I am always pushing myself to be aware of that and be original."

2) "If I don't think about it, it won't drive me crazy."

3) "Keep working hard and you can get anything that you want."

4) "You have to love what you do to want to do it everyday."

5) "I think it's important to take a break, you know, from the public eye for a while, and give people a chance to miss you. I want longevity. I don't want to get out there and run myself ragged and spread myself thin."

6) "I don't think about my previous success. I'm happy that the work I've done has been very successful."

7) “All I can do is leave it in God's hands and hope that my fans feel where I'm coming from.”

8) "I don't want to abandon one work for the other, and I don't think I need to sacrifice anything to put my all into either one of them."

9) “I know that people think I'm sexy and I am looked at as that. It is cool with me. It's wonderful to have [sex] appeal. If you embrace it, it can be a very beautiful thing.”

10) "I’m a survivor, and I can handle anything. I’m very confident about that."

11) "If at first you don't succeed/You can dust it off and try again/Dust yourself off and try again."

12) "Whatever will be, will be."

13) "I go through the same problems all young people go through. Being in this business, I accept that there are positives and negatives but having a strong family base and a belief in God enables me to weather the storms."

14) "That's why I work every day. Ev-er-y day. I want to knock people out."

15) "Everything is worth it. The hard work, the times when you're tired, the times where you're a bit sad... In the end, it's all worth it because it really makes me happy. There's nothing better than loving what you do."

RIP, Aaliyah. We miss and love you!

Photo: Getty Images