Six Lessons in 2010

I’ve noticed a few bloggers posting about their “Life Lessons” over the past few months, and I really like this idea. So, I thought I’d change it a little and incorporate it into my end of the year blogging by making it more about the things I’ve learned over this past year! And if you’ve learned anything monumental this year, be sure to blog about it and leave me a link in a comment (or just leave it in the comments!).

1. Do what you love, or find a a way to love what you do.

If you hate what you’re doing with your life- you will have issues in every area of it. And I know we can’t all be blessed enough to make a living doing what we absolutely love. I know I’m certainly not making a living singing or creating my own fashion line- but I have found contentment in what I do and where I’m at in my life and for me, this is what’s important. I feel if you can’t possibly do that where you are at in your own life, then it’s time for some changes!

2. Prioritize.

You’ve heard the saying, “Never allow someone to be your priority while you are only their option”, right? Well, that is a good saying to live by! You can want something and put effort into it until you’re blue in the face, but if nothing comes of it you have to learn to let it go and move past it. This is still a hard one for me, but it’s a good lesson to learn. Prioritize and realize what/who is worth your time and what isn’t and you will waste a lot less energy on nothing, and have a lot more to spend on things that are worth it!

3. Quit overthinking!

I’m a worrier and an overthinker. Like, it’s bad if I don’t keep a handle on it. Everything from which route will I take to the mall to what shampoo should I buy to do I really want to go to the party?! I’ve gotten SO much better about this over this past year. If someone calls me and wants to hang out after work at 7pm- sure, let’s go! I no longer debate and think and pick at things that shouldn’t require that much thought, and I enjoy my life and the people in it a lot more because of it!

4. Be less negative.

So it might be impossible to be completely positive all. of. the time. But actively trying to stay positive can have a crazy good impact on your daily life. It’s kind of along the lines of, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I mean, really. Because if you’re negative and whiny and irritated all of the time you will be overall unhappy and you will make everyone around you feel the same way. I’m not saying to not ever have a bad day or to never whine or complain about anything because that’s completely unrealistic. But, trying to look at the positive side of something, staying calm, and not throwing a fit will most likely end in your favor.

5. Remove negativity from your life.

This goes hand in hand with being positive, but – honestly you can’t do one without the other. Because if you’re surrounded by people/tv/music/whatever who only have bad things to say and are generally unhappy, it will be really hard to accomplish number 4! And in relation to negative people this is kind of also like, “Choose your friends wisely.”- because it’s usually pretty hard to de-friend someone. Although, people tend to take de-friending on Facebook just as seriously as real life de-friending (which I think is insane because, Facebook is not the golden ticket of real life friendship.. I probably just don’t want to know what you’re doing/thinking 24/7). That’s another topic in itself. But, yes- it’s hard to distance yourself or walk away from people.. because you became friends at one point for a reason. However, people change and grow and if someone brings negativity and drama to your life it might be time to weigh the pros and cons of that friendship! That doesn’t mean ignore them or be rude. Just place some distance there and have some breathing room so that you’re not so connected to their negativity.

And really- the Facebook thing. What do you think about this and how do you handle it? I delete people all of the time. It doesn’t mean I hate them or I wouldn’t be friendly if I saw them out in public. But really- I have two types of Facebook friends (beside family). One- my “best” friends who I’m super close to and two) all other people that I may’ve met once or twice or don’t know very well. If for some reason I feel myself judging someone or feeling negative feelings over something on Facebook I will definitely delete them- plain and simple. And I think that’s better for both parties, right? It doesn’t mean we’re not “friends”! It means I’m choosing to not put myself in the situation to have negative feelings about that person. …the internet has ruined people’s view on friendship.

And actually that brings me to number 6!

6. Don’t put yourself in bad situations.

This is actually a major life lesson, not really a “this year” lesson. This is probably my lifelong motto. I used to be the Queen of putting myself into terrible situations. I love, love, loved playing with fire and seeing how close I could get without getting burned. And I’m far, far, far from that person in my life now- and very happy to say that. It’s not about having the ability to say no to something or to make the right choice- not really. It’s about seeing the red flags on the way to the place where you would have to make such a decision and turning around before you get there. It’s really that simple!