AHA Moment: The 9 Things I've Learned in a Span of 50+ Years

Okay, 50 years is a long time!

I know.

It's half a century of existence. It's a lot of years to learn ginormous things about life, right? So you might be wondering, why did I learn only 9 things?

Given that span of time, I agree I should have learned at least 50 things about life or more, but... well, because I'm a slow learner? Or I'm kinda picky of what I want to learn. Maybe I just like things simple and uncomplicated now.

But really, I believe these 9 things are the major things that really made a great impact on my life. These are the things that I strongly believe helped me a lot to be the kind of person that I am now.




I had to admit, there are lots of things involved in learning and a lot more to unlearn about life. I live a fruitful life, I think. I could be biased but that is how I feel at this moment. Though my life is still a work in progress, I am quite positive that I live a fruitful life.

There may be a lot of stuff that I struggle with that I don't know how to handle them but still, I'm getting somewhere. And I'm willing to tackle it and change if I must to be able to get the result I want.

Anyway, in the span of 50+ years, these 9 things I learned about life, I learned the hard way. I learned them by making mistakes. And I learned that life is fixable.




So here we go.

1. What is done is done. There's no turning back. Crying and whining about the past will not bring back the time I lost. It's impossible to forget the pain but it is possible to heal the wounds of the past. It is what it is, so move on!

2. Keep the "big girl panties on".  I wasn't a cry baby for as long as I can remember. And if I did cry in the past, I did it behind closed doors where no one can see me. I wasn't the kind of girl who got picked on when I was little too (It's the other way around and not proud of it.) so crying over something petty is not my thing. So if somebody hurt my feelings, I just cry a bit, plot a retaliation plan and shake my booty off.



3. Giving up is definitely not a choice.  Failure always leaves a bitter after taste to anyone's consciousness. I am not a very competitive person, but I love to challenge myself with anything that I find interesting. There are things that I had to do because I don't have a choice. On the other hand, if I fail on doing what I like to do, giving up is an option but never a choice. Giving up on things I like is never easy. Failing on something I have no control over is the challenge. I fail a lot of times but I got back up more than I failed. I toughen it up and move along because I always have my big girl panties on!

4. Life is not fair.  Welcome to the real world. The past 50 plus years were amazing and appalling at the same time. I do have lots of regrets and disappointment about a lot of things and made a lot of bad choices too. Now, the past is haunting me and I am reaping the consequences of those choices I made. But those should not stop me from turning my life around. I accepted the fate I created and embraced those choices as life lessons that I don't need to repeat. But I also learned early on in life that there will always be someone better than I am. As I grew up, I learned early on in life that "life is not all about me". Life is tough. Get over it.





5. Get some Girl Power. Getting myself some trusted girlfriends who I can do crazy things with is worth the investment. I'm an only daughter and I have 2 brothers that I tortured to death when we were younger. Given that background, it's hard for me to get along with girls of different ages, sizes, colors, and shapes. My mother-daughter relationship was not that good either. Having a handful of loyal-to-a-faulthonest-to-your-face and ridiculously trustworthy girlfriends help me build a solid alliance against the boys. But the best part of having girlfriends is, I have somebody to help me decide which shoes to buy and what purse goes with what dress. Let's drink to that!

6. Hot. Flashes. Is. Real! It's not a disease. It's not contagious. It's incurable. It's undeniable. It comes quick and fast and recurring. Just open the windows or doors. Turn on the fan or A/C. Or take a quick shower. Everything will be fine and I am not alone. Every woman in this whole wide world has to go through this phase. Though I'm quick to find out how women can use it to their advantage. This is your best self-defense against the hubs when you want to be alone and not to be bothered.




7. Shopping freeze kills no one. Shopaholics are not people with a dreaded disease. They are just normal human beings who love to shop regardless of the reason, the season and the ability and capability to execute the goal. Shopping therapy is not a cure for stress. Much less an excuse to help the economy. It's just an alibi for people to buy more stuff that they don't need. I know. Been there, done that. A couple of years back, out of impulse, I decided to go on a "shopping freeze mode". That was the most nerve-shaking decision I ever made. But I survived. I'm still alive and I was able to pay off all my bills and started the year debt-free. However, I need to be kind to myself. I activate the freeze mode button every now and then because I need to reward myself for being a good girl. And it's legal.

8. Get a hobby. I'm a hobbyist. My creative juices run deep and wild. I can turn anything into beautiful things and I can create magic. No, I'm just exaggerating. To be honest with you, I just create because I am always bored. I need to get myself busy. One good thing about having a hobby is - it gets me out of trouble because I don't see what other people are doing wrong.

Cheers!


9. Love yourself. I cannot give what I don't have. Suffice it to say, no one will love me more than I can love myself. As I approach my late 40s I made a drastic lifestyle change. I chose to take charge of my health and so far I am happy where I am at. I have never felt this great before. And I feel good to put a size S big girl panties on!

There are more than 9 things that I really learned in life. Lessons that taught me how to be tough in times of trials come handy when faced with tough challenges. They saved my ass a lot of times and kept a lot of people out of trouble most of the time.

So these are the only few things I learned as a surviving adult. Nine lessons in life that as I look at it now really sums up only one thing. I can come up with 100 more but that would be ridiculous to write about especially that we all need ONE - LOVE YOURSELF!

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