Five Lessons From This Year

At the end of the year you get to reflect back on the experiences you’ve had.  The good and the bad.  What fun adventures you had.  What you achieved or didn’t achieve.  But, also you get to see what you’ve learned.  Each year comes with new opportunities to learn and grow.  Here are five lessons from this year.

1. Life Is Uncertain

If anything, this year has taught us that life is uncertain.  You cannot predict the future.  The only thing you can do is face what happens with courage and continue putting one foot in front of the other.  Have faith and believe that there is nothing thrown at you at that you can’t handle.  The truth is, life has always been uncertain.  This year was especially proof of that.

2. Be Present

Life can change in a moment.  Nothing is guaranteed except the present.  It’s important to be present to what’s going on around you.  Be present to your family when you’re with them.  Put down your phone, stop watching tv, and truly listen to what they have to say.  Enjoy the time you have with your friends and family.  Create meaningful connections and work on building stronger relationships with those you love.  To love and be loved is essential to your overall wellbeing in life.  You won’t get to the end of your life and wish you would have worked more.  It’s the memories and feelings of love and happiness with others that you’ll truly remember.

3. Regret

It’s also important to remember that you have goals and dreams for the future.  You don’t want to live life having regrets.  If there’s something you want to do but you’ve been holding yourself back because of all the reasons your mind is finding excuses for, then it’s time to stop waiting and start doing.  Again, the future is not guaranteed.  You do not want to look back and wish that you would have or if only you could have.  Start by taking small baby steps toward a dream that you have.  Each step you take will be progress and that is something you won’t regret.

4. Nothing Is Perfect

You might not be sure how to achieve your goals, but that’s okay.  There is no perfect plan or road map.  It’s impossible to know what exact steps you need to take in order to achieve your goal.  The important part is that you simply start.  Even if things don’t go the way you had hoped, that’s okay.  These are not mistakes or failures.  They are lessons to learn so that you can improve for next time.  Know that things will never be perfect but start anyway.

5. Test

This year has been full of ups and downs.  But, each experience is a test.  In school, you’re taught to consume a bunch of information and then take a comprehension test to see how much you learned.  When really it was to memorize a bunch of stuff and then take a test to see how much you remember.  Then, only to forget the information a few days later.  It was all a game of memory.  Life is different.  Life throws you tests every day to see if you will learn.  Look at each experience as a test and see what you can learn from it.  There is no grade in life.  You just continue moving forward and learn each life lesson as it comes.

There were many lessons from this year, but here are five of them.  Remember that life is always uncertain.  It’s important to live in the present moment with your loved ones.  Start taking action on your dreams now because you don’t want to live a life full of regret.  Know that you will never have the perfect roadmap to achieving your goals.  Lastly, each experience that’s thrown your way is just a test for a lesson to learn.  You’re going to achieve amazing things in the new year.  But, only when you take what lessons you’ve learned this year and carry them forward into the new year will you truly succeed.