Regret is something that tags along with us as we grow older and hopefully wiser. Knowing or learning some essential life lessons would go a long way in mitigating the extend these regrets play a part in our lives.
It is common to hear people, who with the benefit of hindsight, talk about how they wished they knew a few things a whole lot earlier in life.
Mostly, they are talking about decisions or in actions that played major roles in how their life turned out.
You would be surprised to learn that even some apparently very successful and contented people privately live these regrets.
Here is the thing though, knowing some essential life lessons at an early age is one thing. Acting on these essential life lessons is another.
The point here is obvious I guess. It is not good enough to just know these things. We must make sure they become important parts of our psyche. Otherwise, the knowledge is useless.
Taking this into account, here are some essential life lessons we must know before we become too old to be of any use to society or ourselves.
7 Essential Life lessons
Today is more important than the past or future
People dedicate too much time thinking about the future that is yet to arrive or a past that is now history.
It is understandable to analyze the past and try to take lessons that would make life better; or to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past in the future.
But the real deal is the present. Making the best of the present is what would create either a regrettable past or a rosy future. Doing your best at all times would certainly leave you with little regrets. And a happy future.
A large chunk of our energy should therefore be spent doing the things that we have to do today. Spending time to think about the mistakes or triumph of the past is wasting the limited time we have in this life.
Again, thinking about a wonderful future that is yet to happen is a big waste of time.
It is for a reason that the phrase, ‘Tomorrow never comes‘ is so apt.
Don’t live by others expectations
This is one of the most important essential life lessons.
It is common to see people stuck in a mud of indecision because they are bogged down by what their family think. Some people even make it even more complicated by adding the feelings of friends into the mix.
In the long run, people like that spend too much time thinking about what they should do or shouldn’t do.
This is akin to creating a committee before making a decision. The more people you have in the committee, the more time it would take before any meaningful thing is done.
Just live your life according to how you see fit. You are a one-person committee with executive powers.
Because, no matter how much you try not to bruise your family and friends’ feelings, you would end up hurting someone whichever direction you chose to take.
So always make important life decisions with only your interest at heart. Though it may sound selfish, that is just the way it is in the final analysis.
Never create storms in teacups
There are people who go about thinking any glitch is a sure sign the sky is going to fall on them. They are hardly ever happy.
Avoid people like that at all cost. If somebody like that is your friend or your partner, you need terminate whatever relationship you have with them as soon as possible.
If not, they would surely infect you with that sort of mindset and make you miserable.
And if you are in the habit of making things bigger than they seem. Quit it. It is not worth it or worth the energy that goes into worrying.
Most often than not, a lack of perspective is what creates these scenarios. So always put things into context before blowing them out of proportion.
Fear is a the biggest enemy
Everybody has fears; but how different people handle fears says a lot about their mentality.
Most of the time, the things we fear are not justified. But due to lack of knowledge, we allow the fears to dominate our lives and stunt our growth.
The number rule to eliminating these fears is to face them squarely. Like bullies, they’d just fade away in the face of a challenge.
No matter what your fears are, just know that they are most times all in the mind and just a figment of our over-active imagination.
Never be in a hurry
Life is like a marathon. You know how it is: the winners are the ones who maintain a steady and sure pace throughout the race.
At certain times in life, We must have felt the need to go on a fast sprint to get to the finishing line earlier. We discover at the end that we neglected a lot of things in that mad rush.
The secret to a good life is to take small, well planned steps. Life is a series of goals and targets that keep popping up as we grow older. Learning how to take planned and measured steps would leave us with little regrets later; and many successes along the way.
The world does not revolve around you
Most of us are self-centered in different degrees. We go about life thinking what other people do can be used to determine how they feel about us.
That is not correct. Friends, family and even enemies have so much to handle in life. What they do has absolutely nothing to do with you. Most of the time.
It is best you never bother about the actions of others. The world does not revolve around you.
Count your blessings
The fact you can read this already means you are better off than millions of people around the world. Seriously, there are folks who are so impoverished they cannot even afford to have Internet access.
So learning to count the blessings you have no matter how small, is one of the most crucial and essential life lessons to take around with you.
Learn to appreciate your family, your friends and other little things you take for granted. Many people don’t have them.
These are the major things we need to know and learn in life before it is too late. If you feel like adding to them, we would be glad to read your thoughts in the comments section.
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Cheers.
