11 Astonishing Life Lessons To Live A Good Life
What would you do if I told you that the secret to success lay in your hands? Pretty cliché right? We’ve all heard that line several times and nothing appealing comes from hearing a particular phrase too often -it becomes like overcooked food that loses Its taste or a favorite song that is played too many times; it becomes boring.
The truth is, as humans, every essence of our being yearns for a better version of ourselves. The average person out there wants to be better in every ramification: An elevation into a continuum of positive growth that indefinitely truncates our previous achievements. Most individuals aspire to live a luxurious life; get a comfortable job, cruise around town in an admirable car, marry somebody that has mastered the art of loving exquisitely, and get to build a beautiful family together.
This indeed is the lifetime dream that everyone with breath and blood yearns for.
We all aspire to have a good life. Nobody ever walks around and says “Hey! I’m gonna have a dreadful life, and I’m looking forward to the experience!” No amount of pessimism can measure up to this level of dreadful wishes.
Amidst all prevailing insecurities, troubles, and sufferings, one thing is certainly undeniable: Life is Good, and fun too. Even if we continuously insist on creating a bad place for ourselves. However, One deniable truth that every atom, molecule, breath, action, emotion, and fiber of our being must learn and come to understand is that life is a ground that thrives on experiences and a conscious effort to procreate goodness. Meaning, this consciousness can only be reached through a positivity that can only be found and generated from within.
Not hoping to sound like a self-help manual, what this simply means is that the general overlook of our reality can only be made into perception by what we consider for ourselves. What a good life looks like may not be the idea that is remolded and essentially shown to us on mainstream media, and camouflaged around in Disney romantic movies.
A good life does not have to be a giant mansion with luxurious cars to grace your front lawn. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not in any way Anti-luxury or ‘soft life’. I love ‘love’ and good living too. Like the popular Nigerian slang “who no like better thing?” However, I like to defeat the myth that validates good life with material and visible achievements.
A good life should not be measured against these standards, because life in itself is flavored in perception. And the way you look at life completely and utterly defines what you make of it. Your view generates semiotic action which in turn reproduces the same fitting results. Your life can only be seen as a product of actions, the same actions that are taken from your own perception and viewpoint.
So, in this journey full of vast experiences, actions, and results where most things are often said than done, I’ve compiled a list of realistic life lessons that borders on human experiences that everyone should know at some point or the other in their life. The earlier you learn about these lessons and work towards acknowledging and mastering them, the better!
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Nobody Has It Entirely Figured Out
Yes. Not even our favorite idols, mentors and role models, or even life coaches! Truth is, life does not come with a manual or a set of specific rules that are plastered on our foreheads to serve as an authentic guide. We’re all trying to understand how this path works, and how best to position ourselves at a vantage that would be effective eventually. So, it’s okay to go slow on yourself and avoid trying to second-guess your advancements and progress.
The popularly acknowledged axiom “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” can only be allotted into a physical doing if that one step is started on a bold, self-assured, and instinctive foot. Understanding this can help create a major shift towards result-oriented positivity in your life.
2. Avoid Worrying Over Things You Cannot Change: Focus More on The Things You Can Do Better
Focus on the right thing is a primary life hack that cannot be overemphasized. “My height isn’t good enough” “everyone thinks I’m fat!” “My boss does not appreciate my output at work” “I’m a loser” and so much more. These thoughts will only pull you towards inevitable doom, and severe anxiety. Learning to accept these accusations of your ‘supposing defects’ open-mindedly would enable you to thrive even amidst the looming cloud of pessimism hovering around you.
We can only thrive progressively when we learn to boost our ego to a point where we see ourselves as beautiful and worthy enough first, before receiving validation from anyone else. So, what if you’re a few weeks behind your workout schedule? a few inches behind the regular height track? Or a bit dark-skinned than everyone else around you? You’re you, and beautiful too! So, stop worrying over what you cannot change and enjoy living more!
You must learn to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of your difference. Stop focusing on what you don’t have! And rather Focus on what you have – like how you light up every room with your smile, and how great your amiable personality breathes life to everyone around you and many other special characteristics that can be peculiar to only you.
Avoid fretting and running from these things, rather, learn to stand up for yourself. Because we inevitably become taller than what we stand up to. There is wisdom that is identified by learning to accept the things we cannot change and finding the courage to change the negative things that we can about ourselves, knowing the difference is bound to put you in the right frame of mind to improve your life.
3. Avoid Complacency
Getting too comfortable about certain things in your life may not be a healthy sign. Change is a constant part of life. As well as a phenomenal aspect of our existence. To live better, you must consciously avoid actions that prompt you to think that change is unnecessary.
4. Failure Is An Inevitable Part of Life
Life can be hard especially when we’re faced with setbacks and continued failure. Failure can be intimidating, frightening, and undaunting but it only thrives and festers in the valley of ignorance. You must get to a point of realization that sees failure as a stepping stone to success.
Truth is, if our successes did not have back lustre stories of failures, they’d be nothing exciting about them. Success can only begin to count as an accomplishment when it is built on the threshold of failure. So when next you’re feeling down, sodden, grief-stricken, and absolutely unsure about yourself, you need to learn to accept that this is an inevitable “buy one get one free” extra package that comes with life.
You must learn to show up when it’s needful despite your fear of failing no matter what the circumstances are. Some of us put up barriers and mental obstacles that promote this insipid invisible enemy. We question our competencies, avoid new opportunities, and generally are always too afraid to fail because our minds are always fast to feed negativity before anything else. We need to learn to show up in spite of fear, pressure, pain, praise, criticism, summer, winter, and so forth. Whatever it may be, it is best to entertain fear, and still go for it!
5. Surround Yourself With Positive Individuals And Ignore Pessimists
It’s not star breaking news to learn that our world ideally festers on negativity. Every word is spoken in most homes, workplaces, families, and even in the media are often laced and coated with thin lines of pessimism that can get to you too. Pessimism is everywhere around us all, and it takes a conscious effort to decisively break loose from its negativity.
Positivity is an attitude, and it should attract people with the same vibes. A positive attitude isn’t something that will just come to you automatically. You have to constructively imbibe the nature of being a curator of good words to every person you meet every day. Surround yourself with people who are ambassadors of positivity and good words.
The good thing about positive people is that they do not refuse to recognize the negative. Instead of living in denial, positive people always look out for the little good in every daunting and negative circumstance. Truth is, we must learn to surround ourselves with people of so much positivity because it’s easier to not surrender to negative emotions when you have healthy positivity thriving around you. People that remind you of your goals and purpose in life.
6. Take Care of Your Health
Maintaining a proper health routine is one major life hack that everybody needs to take seriously – maybe the most important on the list. Your body is definitely your biggest asset, so while trying to meet up with every aspect of your life, do not ignore your body along the way. Eat healthily, exercise frequently, and take 7.5 hours off your supposedly busy schedule to sleep because your brain needs it. When you maintain a productive health routine, you would be in the best position to take on any challenge life throws at you. Never forget that a healthy body lives a merrier life.
7. Be Strategic About Taking Time to Rest
Going 18 or 20 hours without rest will only hinder your productivity. When you plan smartly, utilize time properly and rest assiduously, you’re bound to achieve better results. Take short breaks during the day, and avoid staying up all night.
8. Set Realistic Long-term Goals And Avoid Arbitrary And Unrealistic Decisions
Everyone and everything in life works with a pattern and system that is peculiar to itself. As humans, society has mostly confirmed our mindset to think about reaching our goals within a particular time frame, and if we do not reach this at that prescribed age, we are tagged as ‘losers’ who are bound to remain as failures. This mindset is not fair, neither is it proper!
Every individual’s journey through life is different and magically peculiar to that person. One person’s journey should not be used as validation to downplay or disregard the other. Because of this, we must learn to set goals that are realistically probable and possible for ourselves. The ’20s’ years should be a time of self-rediscovery and hard work. No, you don’t need to own a giant mansion on an island before you turn 22!!You can if you’ve worked smartly and constructively towards that sole purpose in the earlier years of your life. However, if you haven’t made such plans, you don’t need to freak out. You’re not running out of time. There’s still a lot of blissful years ahead to live your dream life.
Another aspect is; knowing when to quit a dead-end dream, and when to keep pushing till there’s a light in the tunnel. To live a good life, you need to know when to give up. Quitting is not defeat. It’s just knowing that it’s time to retreat and restrategize again.
9. Develop A Saving Culture
While most people do not enjoy saving, it is a necessary life hack lesson that is indeed helpful. You cannot go wrong with saving something extra for the rainy days. So, when next you’ve got extra cash tips lurking somewhere, remember to begin a saving plan that’ll work suitably for you. You don’t have to be super wealthy before you can save. Saving is the ability to put away something extra out of something little. It’s best to save now, and enjoy it later.
10. Invest In Self-Development
Self-development is like a continual self-renewal of the mind. It keeps you in a continued aura of focus and improves your need to be deliberately conscious about being better.
11. Quit Whining All The Time:
Life can be hard sometimes, but an essential aspect of adulting is the ability to understand that when life comes hard at you, you should look life back in the face, and get up in spite of everything else. That’s a life lesson that you must master to be able to achieve success.
Other Life Lessons Include:
- All friendships don’t last forever
- Live below your means
- Travel
- Laugh more
- Be happy now, don’t wait till you have it all.
- Success takes time.
Living a good life can be simple and honestly very achievable with the right action to work, proper productivity, and result oriented action. The tips and hacks listed above can help you weave a good life if you’re willing to get it done! So, you see, success can really be at the tip of your fingers too. It’s not entirely cliche after all.
All images are sourced from unsplash.com
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