Life is tough. That’s no secret. And it’s no lie, too. If life were easy, we wouldn’t need mental health assessments, we wouldn’t have any need for a PTSD clinic, and we wouldn’t be in conflict with other people and ourselves.
Though life might seem unfair, even traumatic at times, we need to take a step back and try to look at things from a different perspective. Perhaps we need to have a paradigm shift in the way we process things. If we try hard enough, we might be able to find some hidden gems among life’s rubble.
1. Everyone has insecurities in life, not just you.
The thing is, we all have things that we’re insecure about and not exactly proud of. Some have to do with physical appearance. Others involve other external factors, such as jobs, families, and possessions. Regardless, even the most secure person you think has a little insecurity tucked somewhere in his or her psyche. Keep in mind that no one’s perfect, so there’s no reason for you to feel bad about it. Let it propel you to do better in other aspects where your strengths lie.
2. You will never be 100% right about your decisions, but it’s better to decide than be paralyzed.
If you sum life up, it’s the result of a series of decisions made and acted upon. Think about it. You are where you are right now because of the decisions that you made. While it is evident that not all of your choices were beneficial and good, there are a lot of other things that you decided to do that made you who you are now. If you believe you could have made some better choices in life, it’s never too late to turn things around. It’s easier to fix a decision than regret not making one at all.
3. Someone somewhere will always be better than you as you are also better than someone else.
It is innate in us to want to be ahead of the game somehow. This is why we have competitions and contests and other similar events that measure and test our limits as humans to find out who’s better than who.
This mentality carries over to our regular lives with our competitive spirit and tendency to always compare ourselves with others. While it makes us feel good to be somehow superior to others, the opposite is also a hard pill to swallow, knowing that someone else has bested us where we’re best at.
Stop comparing yourself to others. The truth is, we all have our own strengths, with some of us more gifted in certain areas while some are lacking. Just learn to embrace your strength and always work to the best of your ability. Hard work might not always be a guarantee for success, but knowing that you did your best will make it all worthwhile. Plus, giving your best always makes victory a lot sweeter.
Your best and worst competition is yourself.
4. You can’t control everything in life except your words and deeds.
As much as we hate to admit it, being the control freaks we are, we cannot control everything around us save for our words and actions. Things won’t always go the way we want them to. In a way, this is what makes life so exciting. But the sooner we realize and accept this, the better we can move forward and do our best to work with what we can control. This piece of knowledge is empowering and enabling. Use this to your advantage.
5. Everything changes, including you.
Lastly, nothing on this Earth is permanent. The only constant thing in this world is change. Cliché as it might sound, it doesn’t make it any less true. Since the beginning of time, change has been ingrained into life. From the things around you to the people you’re with, everything and everyone is destined to change, including yourself. That’s just the way things are.
If you always remind yourself about this fact, the easier it will be for you to keep an open mind about things and deal with them flexibly. Adaptability is one character trait that proves helpful in humanity’s survival. Learning how to roll with life’s constant changes will keep you on your toes and at your best form always. ;
Growth doesn’t just come from the positive things. Sometimes facing the worst can make us grow by leaps and bounds. It is during these times that our character and mettle are tested. It is when we break out of our comfort zones that we experience breakthroughs. We just need to learn how to look at things from a different perspective and push ourselves to rise above the harshness of life.
