Life is a funny thing. You’re born into the world, you go through life learning new stuff daily and facing challenges, you suffer from stress and anxiety, and then you die. It doesn’t come with an instruction manual. We’re all just winging it and doing our best with what we know.
However, it’s essential to remember that life is full of opportunities, growth, and learning experiences. Acknowledging this, we can transform our mindset and take charge of our lives.
So what if we knew the secret to living a happy and fulfilled life? While we don’t have the answer, we do have 23 truths about life that will certainly change the way you live and, in turn, help you find more joy and inner peace.
Forgiveness Will Set You Free
Holding onto past hurts, keeping grudges, and staying angry at people from your past who hurt you only hurts you and damages your mental, emotional, and physical health. The person who hurt you doesn’t care about you or how they hurt you or your emotional health, so why bother holding on to all this anger?
While it can be really hard to forgive someone who hurt you, it’s crucial for your overall well-being. Living a life full of anger, resentment, and hurt is unhealthy. Do yourself a favor, forgive them, and set them free. Do it for you, not them.
Everything is Temporary
The good and the bad. Nothing lasts forever, not even life. The people we meet, our relationships, our jobs, where we live, the things we stress about, and the situations we get in that we feel are hopeless. It’s all temporary. The worries we have today will be gone tomorrow. In turn, the joys we have today will also be gone and just memories tomorrow.
When you realize this, you may enjoy life more and learn to take things with a grain of salt.
Kindness Always Comes Back Tenfold
When was the last time you passed a homeless person on the street and didn’t stop to give them a dollar or offer to buy them a coffee? These tiny and meaningful acts of kindness will come back to you tenfold without you even realizing it. Kindness costs little and makes a world of difference.
We get so wrapped up in our worlds that we often forget that others around us have way less than we do, and a small act of kindness can make their day. Do more kind things for strangers.
Put Yourself First
You are number one—not your kids, your spouse, your parents, or your boss. You. The old saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” is not taken seriously enough. Too many of us are people-pleasers and do so much for others and not enough for ourselves.
You have to do what’s right for you before you do anything for anyone else: your happiness, health, you.
Money Does Not Buy You Happiness
Contrary to popular belief, money does not buy you happiness. It does, however, make life a little easier and temporarily cover problems and unhappiness. Sadly, for some people, the more money they have, the more things they buy, searching for joy. We are all familiar with the term ‘retail therapy.’ We buy things to fix our sadness, but it doesn’t work that way. You’ll still be sad when the novelty of your ‘new thing’ wears off.
Happiness is inside of you, not your bank account or wallet. You can have all the money in the world and still be miserable, sad, or depressed.
You Only Get One Life
It’s not a secret. We only have one shot at life. We forget about that one vital part. It’s the only one we have. It’s up to you to make the most/best of it. Stop stressing about little things that won’t matter in 6 months or a year. Stop holding grudges. Step out of your comfort zone and do more epic things.
It’s up to you to stop wasting days and chase adventure, opportunities, and all the shiny things you see. Start saying YES to life more and NO to mediocrity. You don’t get a second chance.
Life is Not Fair
Bad things happen to good people, bad people, and everyone. People lose jobs unexpectedly; our loved ones die in tragic accidents. Sometimes, justice is never served. Life throws hard curveballs, and we were never taught how to play that ball game.
It’s important to learn how to take the bad with the good. After every storm, the sun always shines. Breathe through the hard times. We must remember that everything happens for a reason, and we don’t always find out what those reasons are until much later in life.
Time is Precious
“The trouble is, you think you have time” ~ Buddha. While we actually do have time, we don’t know how much time we have. It could be 100 years, could only be 25. We say, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” but for some, tomorrow never comes.
Don’t take life and time for granted. Say yes to life and adventure. Say no to anything and everything that doesn’t bring you joy. Embrace each as if it were your last.
No One Cares About Your Life
Don’t get me wrong—people care. They care about a lot of things, but they don’t care as much about your life as you do or as much as you think they do. We waste so much of our precious time worrying about what others think of us, our actions, our lives, our families, etc. None of that should matter, and besides, your life is your own business, no one else’s.
Your life is important to you and you alone. How you live it and what you do with it depends on you, how much you truly care about it, and what you do to make it the best life you can have.
The Past Belongs in the Past
Let go of the hurtful past and stop talking about it, especially to those who caused you the pain. It doesn’t matter anymore. We tend to keep bringing up painful memories, oftentimes in revenge. This behavior serves no one. It only just causes arguments and more pain. Many do this to look for apologies, but unfortunately, sometimes they never come.
Closure doesn’t always come. It’s up to you to leave the past behind, take the lessons you learned, and move toward a brighter future. Hanging on to the past will keep you stuck there, and you’ll never be happy.
You Can Start Over at Any Age
Age is just a number. Don’t let it stop you from starting over again or trying something new in life. You’re only as old as you think and feel. Remember, Colonel Sanders opened up KFC at 62 years old. The writer of this article started her online business at 52 and is now a 6 figure blogger.
We set limits on our lives because of our ages. We have convinced ourselves that ‘we’re too old’ or ‘it’s too late now’ to start anything. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Everyone Fails at Something
The most damaging thing about failure is that it cripples us and prevents of from trying again or moving forward in life. No one is perfect, and failure is part of growth. How will we learn new things if we don’t fail or make mistakes in life? And don’t think you’re a failure because something didn’t work out as planned. You tried, but it didn’t work; you move on and keep trying. Don’t let failure stop you from trying new things.
Some of the most famous people in the world have failed repeatedly, but this hasn’t stopped them. Don’t let your mistakes hold you back.
Everything Happens For a Reason
Sometimes, we make mistakes, bad things happen, or we don’t do something we should have. We do the best we can with what we have at the time. Things either work out or they don’t. That’s the chance we take. Unfortunately, we may never know why things happen, especially bad things.
Instead of asking yourself, “Why me”? start asking, “What can I learn from this”? We are not in control of the things that happen in our lives, but we are in control of how we react to them.
Only You Can Make Yourself Happy
Happiness is an inside job. Many of us look at external things, events, and people to bring joy to our lives, but the truth is that only you can make yourself happy. Don’t rely on people to make you happy. That’s an awful lot of pressure on an unsuspecting person!
You can try to buy happiness by purchasing nice things, but that’s temporary happiness. Things wear off in time. No one or nothing can or will ever make you happy. That’s your job. It’s up to you to find and do the things that bring you joy. If you aren’t happy, you can’t blame anyone but yourself.
No is a Complete Sentence
Stop saying yes to everything, especially things you don’t want to, and start saying no without explanation or apology. Saying no sets boundaries for people who have taken advantage of you in the past. Too often, we want everyone to be happy, even at the expense of our own happiness. Remember, you are number 1, and your happiness comes first.
Also, when you say no, it gives other people a chance to say yes! Stop being a people-pleaser and start pleasing yourself instead. Self-care is not selfish; it’s mandatory.
You’re Not Stuck Anywhere
Too many of us use the words ‘I can’t, I’m stuck here.’ The truth of the matter is you’re not. You’re limiting beliefs keep you stuck. You’re not a tree. You’re not stuck anywhere, even though you think you are. You have freedom of choice, and your life is up to you.
If you want to change jobs, cities, countries, relationships, whatever, you absolutely can. If you’re not happy where you are, make a plan to uproot and start doing more things that bring you joy. It might not be easy, but it’s not impossible either.
Things Can Change in a Split Second
Things can go from bad to good or good to bad in the blink of an eye. Your company could close up, your house could burn down, or you could win the lottery and find the job of your dreams. You could be lonely and find the love of your life in line at the grocery store checkout.
Anything can happen in a split second. Don’t take things for granted or think that whatever bad you are going through is your new reality. Life has a funny way of keeping us on our toes.
Patience Obtains All Things
Being impatient never served anyone well. When we are impatient, we make rash decisions or lash out in anger, sometimes at the ones we love. Patience obtains all things. It really does. We all want instant gratification, but at the end of the day, patience wins.
Learn to practice being in the moment and letting things unfold the way they are meant to. If you struggle with patience, try some deep breathing exercises. Think and pause before you act or speak.
Gratitude Brings Miracles
Count your blessings, not your problems, and watch how life gives you more things to be grateful for. It’s so easy to complain about the things in your life that we often forget to be thankful for all the good in our lives. There are so many things to be grateful for in life, things like the air you breathe, the roof over your head, and the food in your fridge.
Start each day with a grateful heart instead of complaining about the problems you have to face that day. Try that and watch miracles happen.
Your Thoughts Control Your Life
Believe it or not, it’s true. If you continue to think you’re dumb and worthless, your life will reflect that. If you think you’re amazing, smart, and successful, well, your life will reflect that too. What you think, you become.
Watch your thoughts, and next time you have a negative thought about yourself or your life, stop it and think 3 positive thoughts.
Your Life is a Result of Your Choices
This might be a tough pill to swallow, but where you are today, right now in your life, is a result of all the choices you’ve made up to this point. If your life isn’t going great, you can choose to make changes. No one else can do that for you.
We get to choose what to do, where to go, and how to live. Our life: our choices.
You Can’t Control Everything
Actually, there are only 2 things you can control: your life and the way you react to things/people in your life. That’s it, that’s all. Learn to let go and trust the process. Things will happen how they are meant to happen, and you can’t control that.
People will act the way they want to, and you can’t control that either. Practice letting go of control of others and things, and focus more on controlling how you show up in this world and react to external forces.
Hurt People Hurt People
People will lash out at you, bully you, verbally, mentally, emotionally, or physically abuse you; remember that none of that has anything to do with you. When people are hurt, they do the first thing they know how to do, hurt others. It’s easy for us to want to hurt them back, but it’s important to understand that they come from a place of pain and anger.
Don’t hurt them back. Send them love. They need love and kindness, not more hurt.
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