They say sometimes “it takes a village,” even if you don’t think so because you define yourself as a loner, but the truth is there is purpose in everyone you meet. Someway or somehow, they are aiding you on your self-discovery journey. You are learning your tolerance level, likes, dislikes, wants, needs, strengths, and weaknesses as you interact and communicate with each other. So, please don’t be mad when things don’t work out with certain people because their time in your life is over. Don’t get stuck in the emotions of accepting and letting go. Feel it, but don’t linger there for too long. Life is short, with rapids moments, and there is a lot of life you have to discover.
Some of us are alive, but we are not living. We are going through the motions, doing the bare minimum to survive. Working behind a desk, bringing work home, stressed, worried. We are not enjoying the moments our life allows us to experience each day because we woke up.
Therefore, what makes you tick? Do you even know? Finding out and acquiring the skills for your happiness is mandatory. Think about when you want to bake a cake from scratch. What are the ingredients you need? Flour, baking soda, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and milk or water. Without milk or water theirs no moisture. Therefore, what are the essential ingredients that will make you happy?
We allow society to dictate our lives because of our desires and what we see that appeals to us. We know what we want, but many of us don’t know how to get it or are too afraid to take the risk. We are waiting for that perfect timeframe that will motivate us to make a move when the time is now.
- Get to living! Smell the roses, go on vacation, and go on walks alone and with friends. Travel to different restaurants, your kid’s games, or the movies. Experience life with no hold bars. Take risks, fall, and get back up. Don’t let yourself stay behind closed doors and think you are living. Sometimes you have to open the door, walk through it, and get some fresh air.
Life is about learning you. The people you meet, the food you eat, the places you go, the conversations to have, and the experiences, good and bad, all are happening so you can discover who you are. The problem today is that we don’t take the time to ask ourselves the fundamental questions that will make us think. We enjoy living without a goal plan and then wonder where the time went. Remember to ask, “What do you want now continuously?” It will always be a question you will have to ask yourself because we, as human beings change daily through our interactions with people and situations.
There are plenty of ways to educate yourself through people, books, movies, places, free websites, museums, traditional education systems, the church, and research.
Take the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, who states, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
- Don’t stop learning! It’s essential to keep an open mind when living our lives. Know your boundaries. Don’t be afraid to look things up or go against the grain if you disagree with an opinion. Step into someone else shoes to see their point of view. Sometimes you will realize that neither of you is wrong. You are just standing on the opposite side of the tracks, unable to see what is happening.
Life is full of love. When it comes to love, many of us don’t know what we are doing. We are learning on the job. We are affected by the love we saw, received, and did not receive from our family. Understand and really understand because I know you’ve heard this before: you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself.
We confuse love with lust. Some people believe in love at first sight, and some don’t. Some people confuse love with control! The best definition I can give you when it comes to love is one Corinthians 13: 4-8:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
We think we understand love, but we don’t. But don’t give up on love. Love yourself to know when you need a break from trying to love another and work on loving yourself.
- Accept and experience love! But acknowledge when your season with the kind of love you’ve been experiencing is over. A new kind of love is waiting for you around the corner. Sometimes loving yourself stands above loving another because their love is too toxic.
You must decide each day to live, learn, and love. Each day is a choice you have to make, and when it comes to choices like the flawed human beings we are, we don’t like making them because we don’t know the outcome. As we all already know, no choice is still a choice, so make the right choice for you and choose again if it’s not!