What I’ve learned (or re-learned) and will continue learning

2018 was rough, but I’m also a little sad to see it go. I’ve grown a lot in the last year, even if a lot of it has been painful and uncomfortable. I came into 2018 with goals and a positive mindset, but the year had wayyyy different plans for me. I didn’t achieve anything I set out to do. Instead, I accomplished new and exciting things that weren’t ever in my radar. I didn’t resolve the personal and professional problems in my life. Instead, I let them go or accepted them for what they were. I guess, that’s okay.

I’ve realised that a lot of the lessons 2018 taught me were lessons that I thought I had already learned, or that I had once learnt, but simply forgotten. I’ve come to accept that time and life has a way of changing the shape and perspectives of experiences. Sometimes, the thing you really need to learn is a thing you thought you already knew. Sometimes, you need to re-experience things to retrieve lessons you might have previously missed.

Here’s a list of what I have learned (or re-learned) from last year, all of which I will probably be re-learning and struggling with for the rest of my life.

• Take care of yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Also, your health (physical and mental) is priceless, and not worth compromising
• Know what you stand for and what you don’t. Trust your inner compass and let your values be your north star
• People deserve second chances. And maybe a fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh
• Perfectionism will make you miserable
• A day without fun is a day wasted
• There is beauty in failure (read my post on learning to love failure for more info). Failure is not about my value as a human being but the independent and dependent moments, and the small or big lessons I can take from them
• Don’t rest on your laurels. Instead keep learning, striving and exploring opportunities outside your comfort zone
• Kindness can make all the difference in the world
• Look back but only to see how far you’ve come. You won’t see your next step if you’re constantly retracting your last one
• Compassion is beautiful, but compassion fatigue is a real thing
• Fear will be present whenever you want to stretch and go out of your comfort zone…but fear is never as bad as it first seems, because FEAR is nothing more than False Expectations Appearing Real
• Having courageous conversations can catalyse change. You just have to be brave enough to speak up and humble enough to listen
• Even when you don’t think you’re making a difference, you are
• All emotions are fleeting, except for hope – I think hope is immortal
• Attitude and gratitude are everything
• Don’t stress about things beyond your control. Just focus on what you can control, which are:
  • Your actions and reactions;
  • Your boundaries;
  • Your expectations;
  • How you invest your time;
  • How you treat yourself;
  • How you treat others, and;
  • How you interpret what happens in your life

Also, remember that you are worthy, no matter what anybody else says or thinks.

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