Birthdays… I never had a thing for it. To the person experiencing
it, it is a subtle reminder another year have passed since your last… reminder.
Not so subtle if you have a bunch of lively friends shouting it into your ears.
If you are someone who treasures your own time, then everyday should’ve been
equally important, not just the one that marks the anniversary of your birth.
Being expelled your of your mother’s womb is hardly an achievement, and all the
credits should actually go to your mom. Despite all that, it does still serve a
purpose, which is that in a way it remind us who is still left in your life at
you current age mark. People make an effort show you they care about your
birthday because they’d still want to be part of your life, at the very least,
for the year to come. Of course, at good times, these well wishes may only be
lobbyist trying to maintain a beneficial relationship to extract any possible
current of future gains out of you! But then again, come to think of it, if you
don't even have “friends” trying to lobby you, what does it say about you???
As for me, it will be soon mark a 24 anniversary of my
birth. It is hard not to reminiscent the past at times like this, about the
good and better times. Just a couple of birthdays ago, I could recall how merry
it was and how much I’ve enjoyed it. But since then, it only got quieter, and
I’ve kind of preferred it that way too. Maybe it’s the age catching up, not
just of myself but people around me as well, that we are too old for these, we
all are. Heh. But more importantly, I realized it is the fact that the so
called list of “close ones” I hold dear to me dwindles rapidly, year by year
and I have hardly anyone worth the trouble to celebrate with anymore. So, this
year, I’d greatly enjoy a very quiet one; one that would not differ from an
ordinary day.
As Maria Robinson would put it - “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
So below is the list of 23
most important things that I should STOP, doing to myself, as my resolution for
the my 24th year!
1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too
short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll
make room for you. You shouldn’t have to
fight for a spot. Never, ever insist
yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand
by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when
you’re at your worst that are your true friends.
2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head
on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of
flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them.
We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt,
stumble and fall. Because that’s the
whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over
the course of time. This is what ultimately
molds us into the person we become.
3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in
the world, but you can’t lie to yourself.
Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most
difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.
4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The
most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too
much, and forgetting that you are special too.
Yes, help others; but help yourself too.
If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that
matters to you, that moment is now.
5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the
greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make
you like everyone else. Someone will
always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be
younger, but they will never be you.
Don’t change so people will like you.
Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the
next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
7. Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and
getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind
it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT
do far more than the things you did.
8. Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we
desire are expensive. But the truth is,
the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working
on our passions.
9. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If
you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a
long-term relationship with anyone else either.
You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share
it with someone else. Read Stumbling on
Happiness.
10. Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create
a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive
action. You cannot change what you
refuse to confront. Making progress
involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your
foot on first.
11. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100%
ready when an opportunity arises.
Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our
comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
12. Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. –
Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that
is meant for you. You may not see or
understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs
thrown at you in the past. You’ll often
see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or
situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot
stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.
13. Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate
in your heart. You will end up hurting
yourself more than the people you hate.
Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you
did to me ruin my happiness forever.”
Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for
other people, it’s for you too. If you
must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
14. Stop letting others bring you down to their level. –
Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.
15. Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your
friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.
16. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy
the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the
big things. The best portion of your
life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who
matters to you.
17. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world
doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done.
Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not
easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.
18. Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s
okay to fall apart for a little while.
You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to
constantly prove that everything is going well.
You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either –
cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be
able to smile again.
19. Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to
which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take
responsibility for your life. When you
blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give
others power over that part of your life.
20. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is
impossible, and trying will only burn you out.
But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their
world. So narrow your focus.
21. Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow
of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy.
One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself
this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years?
Five years?” If not, then it’s
not worth worrying about.
22. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus
on what you do want to happen. Positive
thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought
that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close
attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
23. Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you
have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately
fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking
about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else
is missing.
Source: www.marcandangel.com
The truth is...
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