2015 has been a magical year as I paraded through a new chapter in my life and although I’m sad that it’s coming to an end, I am so excited about the future! When you welcome life with open arms, you become happier, less judgmental and your views of the world expands when you meet interesting people, and experience and see things you would have never imagined to be a part of your life. Oh how things can drastically change in such a short amount of time. I’ve been uncovering moments left and right, internally and externally… I love life!
Since I turned 28 this year, here are 28 lessons I’ve learned in life:
- Perfection is boring. If you’ve been too happy in your routine for too long, it’s time to shake things up.
- Time is money. Time is the most precious currency.
- You definitely do not have to live the same life as everyone else around you.
Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.
- When home doesn’t feel like home anymore, it’s time to move on.
- Being afraid of something is the ultimate sign that you NEED to do it.
- Only boring people get bored. How can you be bored in a world full of exciting things? BE CURIOUS!!
- You cannot give what you don’t have. Spirituality and a strong and stable mental health needs to be your foundation, followed by your physical health and well-being. If you don’t work on yourself and love yourself first, you have nothing of value to offer to anyone else.
- Don’t believe in instant gratification. It is life’s biggest deception and you won’t get anything out of it.
- Be receptive to change. Being adaptable to whatever life throws at you, is one of the most important traits to success.
- Punctuality is respect. Don’t be late— it shows how much you respect the other person’s time.
I could never think well of a man’s intellectual or moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments. — Nathaniel Emmons
- When you say you are going to do something, always follow through, otherwise you’ll carry the reputation as a flake.
- Simplify your life by not over-thinking and letting go. Life is so much better when you stop caring about what other people think of you. Always let go of anger. When someone cuts you off or say something offensive, let yourself dwell in the emotion for a second (because you are human after all), then imagine the anger flowing away… outside of your body and dissipating into nothingness. Seriously visualize it because it works. Never hold onto anger but allow yourself to experience it briefly to remind yourself the toxicity it injects into your soul. Which comes to another lesson…
- Never let external sources determine your emotions. Life is what you make of it. You are your own God. YOU get to decide how to react to obstacles and YOU get to decide on the outcome. Getting angry over minuscule conflicts or over what someone said or did to you is time you will never get back. You can’t fix other people’s dysfunctional personalities but you can choose how to react to them. When you give them emotion, you give them power. Don’t let their chaos disrupt your peace.
- Think before you speak and react because there is always more than what you see on the surface— be more insightful and search for the truth in everything. So many people these days lack the ability to look at the bigger picture while only focusing on the details right in front of them. Imagine if all there is to life is exactly what we see in front of us? How boring would that be?!
- Psychology is so important and needs be mandatory in all schools because it makes you more compassionate, by helping you understand why people are the way they are. When your find yourself judging someone, remind yourself that they also have a story and they are living their life the best they can. No one wants to be unhappy. People are the way they are because of a collective of experiences through life… whether good or bad.
This is the secret to compassion and forgiveness.
- It’s okay to invest the majority of your time and emotions for the people you want to be with. It is much better to have a handful of close friends than a lot of acquaintances. I cherish small dinners and get-togethers with my closest friends— those are the best of times!
- It’s okay to admit that certain personality types just don’t mesh and not feel guilty about it. There are people you naturally click with and those you will never see-eye-to eye with. Personalities are such mysterious entities. Don’t force relationships and just move along because the world is a monstrous place. If they have a problem with it, know it is not your responsibility to fight their demons for them.
- It’s okay to ruthlessly edit things out of your life that aren’t living in accordance with your physical and physiological well-being. Life is too short for negativity, conflicting interests and those who would tell you otherwise.
- Friendship is timeless. Your real friends are the ones you may have not seen in ages but you always pick up right where you last left off.
- Real friends tell you the truth and don’t get offended by the truth.
I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. – Plutarch
- Money cannot buy class.
- Nothing is secret once you tell anyone. That anyone to someone else:“oh don’t tell anyone but…” Words always get innocently passed along because it is simply human nature to want to share and talk, so when someone doesn’t want to tell you something, don’t take it personally. You have a right to your privacy and if you have nosy ‘friends’… maybe you should just edit them out of your life as well.
- Always find an excuse to travel. Travel expands your mind and changes the way you see the world… it will change you in ways you would have never imagined. When you only know one way to live and is heavily influenced by the “society” you’ve been around for years, without experiencing the vastness of the world and seeing firsthand, the unique lives other people lead, you are only a prisoner of your own life.
- Have a hobby that puts you in a sacred state of flow and do it often.
- Sometimes you have to slow down. Sometimes you have to surrender and let go.
- Stop planning everything in your life. The fun is in spontaneity!!
- Life is your teacher. Welcome everything that comes along with open arms.
- Don’t forget to live in the now.
The only possible moment of happiness is the present. The past gives you regrets. And the future, uncertainties. – Arsène Wenger
