36 Life Lessons over 36 years

In celebration of my 36th journey around the sun, here are 36 things I’ve learned in life so far… 

1. Don’t get too comfortable; as the world around you constantly evolves, so must you.
2. You are, and always will be, capable of so much more than you currently give yourself credit for.
3. “Comfort zones” are rarely comfortable for long.
4. A busy and stressed mind cannot create or problem-solve well, if at all.
5. Taking responsibility and ownership of your every action and thought will empower you, doing the opposite will disempower you.
6. You cannot experience highs if you don’t experience lows – one cannot exist without the other.
7. Tomorrow is a new day and it’s always the perfect opportunity to start again.
8. When you are kind to yourself, the world is kind back.
9. You create your reality and you can change it anytime you like.
10. You will always get what you need, however, it will likely not be what you want at the time.
11. Believing everything happens for you and not to you is an extremely self-serving attitude; it prompts you to look for the lessons and the opportunities and feel empowered instead of victimised.
12. Follow your gut, it is never wrong.
13. Without purpose and meaning in life, you will be lost.
14. The only meaning in life is the meaning you have assigned to it. You assign meaning to people, events, and circumstances; and you can unassign meaning whenever you like.
15. Nature is a natural antidepressant.
16. The more you move your body, the more you move your mind.
17. There is no perfect routine, the one that is perfect will eventually stop working, so remember to change it regularly.
18. In order to live you must feel, and in order to feel you must be vulnerable.
19. So many people are having the exact same thoughts and feelings that you are, they just don’t talk about it.
20. Your imagination is powerful and can be used as a source of strength, positivity, and comfort. It can also be a source of the opposite, so manage it well.
21. Sleep is so important.
22. If it’s fat loss you’re after then you actually can “run off a bad diet” – it’s pretty stressful though and not advisable.
23. Most people are more willing to help and support you than you think they are. We all have a fundamental need for significance and asking someone for their support or help feeds that need.
24. The waves in life are continuous and relentless, don’t bother trying to stop them, instead learn how to stay calm and let them pass through you, or even learn to ride them.
25. The things you are worried about now eventually won’t be a worry in your future. You can’t worry about something forever, you’ll eventually move on to something else.
26. You cannot possibly know what is possible for you unless you try it.
27. There are no shortcuts in life because it’s never about the destination, it’s all in the journey of getting there.
28. Always look back regularly to see how far you have come and not be solely focused on how far you’ve got to go.
29. Confidence is like a muscle, it must be exercised regularly, but there are many fun, different and exciting ways to do it.
30. Pushing yourself to do things regularly doesn’t make doing things any easier but it makes your experience in life far greater.
31. Others will always be impressing upon you and trying to bring you around to their way of thinking, know your own mind, but don’t close it off to other ways of thinking.
32. Everyone has a heart; communicate with others’ hearts and not others’ heads.
33. Whatever it is, it’s not as bad as you think it is.
34. Focusing on what you have instead of what you don’t is all you need to do to feel good.
35. It’s OK to feel lost in life, your instincts will drive you to find your way, you may not ever reach the destination but there will always be joy found in the journey.
36. Every single one of us is winging it, on a daily basis, no one knows what tomorrow will bring, and while you may feel alone at times, we’re all in this crazy thing called life together.