- If you have an opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, take it.
Yes, it will be scary. You will be terrified. You might even go as far as doubting your own capabilities. Do it anyway.
- Your competition isn’t other people.
Your competition is your procrastination. Your ego. The negative mindset you have, and the creativity that you neglect. Compete against that.
- Tell people how you feel.
If someone hurts your feelings, tell them. If you’re having an incredible time with someone and everything feels absolutely perfect, tell them what you’re thinking. Life’s too short not to express yourself- you never know when it might be too late.
- Learn to love change.
Change is the only thing that is certain in life. It’s going to happen. There’s nothing you can do about it. It won’t always be easy, but it always happens for a reason.
- If you care about someone, make them a priority
Make them a priority not just when it’s easy, but when it is difficult as well. If you care about someone, be there for them when they least expect it, because that’s when they need it the most.
- Be confident.
Too many days are wasted comparing ourselves to others, and wishing to be something we aren’t. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Accept yourself for who you are.
- Be impulsive.
Ask the sales lady for another free ice cream sample, go for midnight walks, laugh obnoxiously with your friends at metro stations, paint your walls with lyrics from your favorite songs, call dibs on constellations with your friends, make a movie. Because honestly, life is too short. You might regret some of those things tomorrow, but it’s almost always worth it.
- Be unapologetically yourself.
Do you want to listen to One Direction instead of Maroon Five? Go ahead. Pump the volume up. Do you want to wear a dress at an event where everyone is bound to be wearing shorts? Go right ahead. You want to use smiley emojis even though you think they’re too childish? Do it. Send five in a row. People are always going to judge you regardless of what you do, you might as well enjoy yourself.
- Be ruthless if you have to.
Ego is essential sometimes. And if you get called arrogant or stubborn for defending your thoughts and views, so be it. You can’t please everyone.
- Everyone doesn’t need access to you.
Don’t tell everyone on your contact list about the wonderful thing that happened to you today. Learn to be a little more private.
- You don’t always need to react to things.
You do not always have to speak what’s on your mind. True power is sitting back, observing things with logic. True power is restraint.
- Don’t be so hard on yourself.
You need to give yourself permission to be happy right now. Not when you’ve lost weight, not when you’ve completed your to-do list. Do not seek happiness from the future.
- You’re going to learn a few things the hard way.
You are going to make some bad decisions in your life. You’re going to mess up, you’re going to make mistakes. You’re not always going to get it right, and that’s okay. You’re human.
- Do not listen to other people telling you that you can’t do it.
I grew up on the stories of a twelve-year-old Anne Frank cramped in a room, weaving magic with a pen; of Mary Shelley who changed the fictional world by creating a new genre. People would have told them that they don’t have what it takes to achieve their dreams, but that didn’t stop them. Make it happen. Shock everyone.
- Do not try to make sense of life.
For the longest time, I have been trying to figure life out. But I’ve realized that there is nothing to figure out, no checklist to complete- just ephemeral moments to be yourself, be kind, to love and feel.
- You will have bad days, and you will get through them
You’ve been assigned this mountain to show people that it can be moved.
- Remember that other people go through stuff too.
When your friend is suddenly rude to you or when your parents yell at you for no reason, remember that they may not be at their best right now, and not everything’s about you.
A little progress each day adds up to a big result.
Do not wait for a Monday to start something new. Do it now. Your future self will thank you.
- Your mental health is more important than your friends.
It’s okay to not pick up the phone calls, to say no to the plans. Choose yourself, always.
By Ishita Sharma
Photo courtesy of Phil Coffman on Unsplash