“It takes a wise man to learn from his mistakes, but an even wiser man to learn from others.” This is a very popular saying by John C. Maxwell about being wise from one’s own experiences and those of others. I have to admit, I’ve become wise but not wiser. I am sure we all used to have so many life lesson lectures from our elders that did not make sense to our younger selves—it’s because our surroundings, our adventures, our circle, our knowledge of things, our perspectives, our ideas, our comprehension, and our clarity were short and limited. But when I recall those life lessons now, every single one of them has started making sense. The only difference between our younger selves and who we are now is ‘the experience.
12 wise lessons that can change your life forever
Health is Everything.
We’ve heard a lot about health being our everything. As a matter of fact, we’ve read and written speeches and debates about the famous quote “Health is Wealth” so many times. We are well aware of this saying, and we even believe it, but most of the time, we ignore the truth and what we believe in. Most of us these days have kind of become hypocrites. We know how to take care of ourselves and yet do otherwise. Taking time to be healthy is like investing in the highest-yielding stocks—we all know how important and profitable investing in stocks is these days, right? You gain and gain and gain, and if you keep investing, it multiplies your overall wealth just by doing simple, regular things. Your lifestyle choices, your routines, your habits, and your everyday decisions determine your overall health. So, start from here and right now! Slowly but constantly. Being healthy not only saves you all those medical expenses but also keeps you mentally and physically sound.
Happiness is A Choice, and It is Felt.
Everyone wants to be happy; who doesn’t? We chase happiness as if it were some kind of achievement or that big promotion in life we’ve been wanting for a long time, but it is not. It is an everyday choice, just like we choose what to eat for breakfast or lunch. Happiness should not be limited to what you gain or what you lose; it should be defined based on what you’ve chosen in the present. Most of us seem to connect our happiness to what we will achieve tomorrow when happiness is all about today and now. We should practice how to be happy in the little things of our daily lives.
Sometimes, I find myself imagining what happiness might look like if I achieved something I’ve been dreaming of for a very long time. However, when I come back to reality, it burdens me more than relieves me. I see how far I am from being even close to what I want to be. I bet most of us do this every day. As I have mentioned earlier, happiness is a choice that cannot be seen but can be felt through our everyday decisions. We imagine happiness when we don’t practice feeling it today. We try to picture the face of happiness while we are drowning in the nervousness of incompetence and failure. Happiness needs to be felt in small portions of life. We need to make every moment of our lives count right now because there might not even be a tomorrow. So, feel your happiness in the present; don’t wait too long in hope of seeing it.
Invest both Time and Money in You.
I have come to realize that this saying is so underrated. We need to invest our time and money in what we would love to live for because, in the end, regrets hurt more than dying itself. Spend your limited time and hard-earned money on things that inspire you, shake you (positively) to the core, and help you grow into a wonderful human being. Investing in your health and all those productive aspects of your life is not spending; it’s more like investing that yields fruitful results in the coming years. If you do not start right now, you will likely have a lot of tears of remorse coming your way sooner or later.
For example, if you have been thinking of starting your own business, invest your time and savings in it. Take risks. Even if you make mistakes, you’ll gain experience and become wiser. However, if you are someone who loves to work in a defined time schedule, invest your time in a job that you love. It is your choice to pamper yourself with things you cherish. “Investing in yourself is the best kind of investment that there is.
Expand and Limit Your Circles.
Our main circle is everything we are now and who we become tomorrow. Who we hang out with, who we travel and enjoy life with, who we look up to, and who influences our decisions all determine our quality of life and health overall. Choosing our friends is like choosing a family; it impacts our entire well-being for life.
So, when I say expand your circle, I mean choosing people who influence you positively, who inspire you to grow, and who motivate you to keep moving forward even when your mind and body are telling you to stop. Select people in your group who are like-minded and who help you progress. However, limit your exposure to social surroundings where you don’t fit in easily, as it might only offer criticism and negativity.
Do Not Compare, Relate.
With all the social media and the internet, everyone’s life has become transparent to everyone. We have easy access to people’s successes, downfalls, life stories, current happenings—almost everything. This gives us an opportunity to compare our lives to theirs. We see our relatives and friends happy in their photos, or even celebrities having a blast, which automatically triggers our subconscious to compare our lives.
Comparison can be beneficial when we’re looking at the brighter side, but when we feel like our lives do not measure up to others’, it becomes the most unhealthy way to live. Measuring ourselves against others never works because we have not walked in their shoes, nor have they in ours. Instead of comparing, we can relate to others. Relating to people in similar situations can bring everyone together positively. People tend to bond stronger when they share their pain, grief, happiness, and sadness.
Practice Achieving Peace of Mind Daily.
Just like our physical health, our peace of mind is equally important. There is a very popular saying by Brian Tracy: ‘Set peace of mind as your highest goal and organize your life around it.’ When you have a peaceful mind, every aspect of your life slowly starts to come together. You achieve different levels of satisfaction and fulfillment. By practicing this, you’ll gain clarity on your important matters. Having clarity can help you prioritize, organize, decide, and carry out necessary tasks, which ultimately contributes to your desired outcomes.
Privacy is Under-rated These Days.
Nowadays, we are busy showing off our lives on apps and the internet to people we barely know. As technological advancement flourished and modernization took over, we slowly forgot how to be content with our privacy. If we miss out on some parts of our lives without sharing them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or even TikTok now, we feel incomplete. Our happiness is connected to what people say about us on social media. We need to learn how to be happy without the attention around us because private moments captured in our hearts never compare to what we photograph. Being private about the things we love, what we do, and where we chill, and mastering the ability to absorb the moment without technological devices will make us feel much lighter afterward.
Expenses: The Mustard Seeds of Financial Overspending
For guidance on personal budgeting, Click Here.
I wish I had known this at an early age. I’ve grown up hearing this every single day from my parents, but like most of us, I did not give it much thought. However, I realized far too late the importance of this saying when I lost track of my finances and expenses. Spending beyond my limits and my income became a habit that was hard to break. Once you develop the habit of spending, you don’t realize where your expenses are overflowing, just like you won’t be able to track mustard seeds falling from a hole. They keep falling, but you won’t notice until it’s almost finished. So, if you are someone whose expenses are too high, stop—and stop now. Put your finances together and see where your money is being spent. If you are an impulsive buyer or shopper, carry as little cash as possible with you or make your bank accounts difficult to withdraw from. Keep a daily track of your expenses.
Define Your Own Quality Time
Today, we have so many options for how and where we spend our spare time. Most of the time, we end up hanging out somewhere we don’t feel like being, due to peer pressure, the hype on social media, or simply because everyone is doing it. This is your time, and you should be the one responsible for choosing your idea of quality time. I know sometimes we end up alone because nobody wants to do what we enjoy, but that’s fine. We have to realize that it’s their time as well; let them enjoy it however they want to. However, this does not mean that you have to let your people drag you along if it doesn’t give you the right vibe. If your quality time looks like sleeping in, reading books, writing, spending time with family, or cozying up in that empty space of your home, or doing some regular things (which might look boring to other people), DO IT. Don’t be afraid of being judged. This is who you are, so why pretend to fit in when you really don’t?
Read, Read, and Write.
Some of us don’t like to read that much; I used to be one, as a matter of fact. It took me a very long time to make a habit of reading. It sucked at first, but slowly and gradually it started to feel like meditation and yoga. When you read things—whether online or books—it doesn’t necessarily have to make sense to you. What you gain from reading is perspective on things that you don’t understand from your point of view. Reading helps you achieve a level of understanding in different matters, and you learn that everyone is different. Others’ thoughts matter just like yours, and you eventually realize that there is no definite answer to every question. This offers you the power to accept differences, and when we accept differences, the world looks more colorful and exciting. Moreover, if you feel like it, you could write in your notebooks or journals. This habit makes you clearer about your own thoughts and also understanding yourself.
Don’t Stress, Relax.
We seem to stress about everything in our lives; we have become too serious. It’s like our lives are living us rather than us living our lives. I know there is too much competition, and we cannot relax at the moment. We feel we should be running, not taking breaks right now. The thought of competition has gained an advantage over our personal freedom and life. We have let our lives take over the steering when it should have been us. We don’t know what we are competing for, but we do it anyway because if we don’t, we look like failures. In the process of not looking like complete failures in others’ eyes, we are losing ourselves; we are becoming someone we don’t even want to be. When we’re different, we are trying to be alike; when we are supposed to find ourselves, we are moving farther away. Everything in life does not have to be serious—have fun, relax. Relaxing helps more than stressing.
Consistency is The Key.
So many times we hear that consistency is the most powerful tool to achieve something. It is true. We are so motivated one day to do something, but as soon as some problems surface or it becomes hard, we have a tendency to quit. I, myself, can barely count the things I left incomplete because they became harder to continue and I lacked inspiration on a daily basis. However, in my later years, I realized that the main reason behind my unsuccessful achievements was inconsistency—not a lack of motivation. I know it’s easier said than done, yet, “the fruit of your hard work is the sweetest.” Being consistent not only helps reflect your daily progress, but it also makes you disciplined. When it comes to achieving your goals, discipline is a prime factor. So, if you’ve left things half-finished, try your best to complete them. If you have to, take small baby steps, but daily and slowly you’ll create a powerful habit of not being able to quit.
Conclusion
These 12 life-changing lessons might look simple and ordinary, but trust me, if you really sink these into your thought process and practice them daily, you’ll be able to see life so differently (and beautifully). Every day, we are making simple choices that sum up our overall life. So, since you really have to choose, make wise decisions frequently. It is your life, your decisions, your happiness, your dreams, your destination. Take over that steering and move where you feel safe and at home.
Do you agree with my personal findings on life lessons? If you have other eye-opening life experiences, please leave them in the comment section so that we all can be a little wiser together. Do not forget to subscribe to my newsletter if you like what you’re reading here and want to be updated on my future posts.
