Monday, October 8, 2012

Some of What I’ve Learned in 35 Years (in no particular order)


1. Beauty is WAY overrated. It’s not something you earned, or fought for, or discovered or created. How I wish our culture did not put so much emphasis on a random biological process that none of us have any control over.

2. (on that same note) The 400 lb woman thinks the 200 lb woman is lucky and has nothing to complain about. The 200 lb woman looks at the 150 lb woman and thinks she is beautiful and wishes she could be her. The 150 lb woman looks at the 120 lb woman and thinks she is perfect. The 120 lb woman sees nothing but flaws when she looks in the mirror. It's madness I tell you!!!!!!!!!!

3. Life is simply too short to exercise more than 40 minutes a day (unless you’re on the show The Biggest Loser).

4. Eating healthy as a lifestyle is the way to go, but I will always make room in my diet for the naughty things! Bacon, candy corn, fried cheese curds, mini donuts, yeah you guys will always have a special place in my heart.

5. Marriage is one of the hardest and one of the most rewarding things in life you will ever experience. When you find someone who will be your greatest advocate in the world, and you are his, that my friends is worth any fight, any drama, any sleepless night and all the work it takes to get there.

6. You can never take back something you said. But, if you don’t take risks and say some things that are on your mind and make some mistakes, you never learn which things are important to say out-loud, and which things you should just keep to yourself.

7. I believe in living with some regret, but only if regret can be the catalyst you need to change, do better, be better, grow and clean up your messes.

8. There are a rare few that will be in your life forever. For all the rest of the people that come and go, hurt you, make you smile, make you laugh, break your heart, its all a part of the process. Embrace it all because without the negative experiences, we really would not be able to truly value the positive ones.

9. Take the time to interview the older people in your life. Ask them; what was a waste of time? what did they wish they would have done more of? what were their victories and what were their failures? Learn from it. I once heard someone say write your ideal obituary, and then work backwards from it. Don’t be a passive human being. Live intentionally! Happen to your life, don’t let life just happen to you.

10. Whether you feel like a creative person or not, we are all born with a form of art that we are to present to the world. Each one of us carries inside the ability to do something unique and special that no one else in the world can do like we can. What is your art that the world is waiting for?

11. Pay attention to the movies, the commercials, the poems, the books, the greeting cards and the quotes that make you tear up, they will lead you in the direction of your destiny.

12. Every morning when you wake up and have your coffee or your tea, think about how the grass is plenty green on your side. A thankful heart cannot be a depressed, discouraged or sad heart.

13. Today, a real woman is powerful. She may have been born with a loud, strong personality, or a quiet, shy personality. Either way she should own that and be true to herself. She may have been born with a lean athletic build and gorgeous eyes, or a short frame with freckles and beautiful teeth. Either way, she should own that too and be proud. A real woman today might be president of a nation, or a stay-at-home mom. The point is that now she has a choice. This woman isn’t yet modeled in media or advertising as much as we would like, but she is all around you. She’s at the grocery store, she’s your neighbor, she’s your sister, she’s your classmate, she’s your boss. It’s our responsibility to make sure this is the model we are teaching our little girls from here on out.

14. People with secrets never have true peace. It’s so much better to get your failures out in the open, talk about them in your words, from your perspective. No secrets = freedom. Freedom = the ability to love openly and live powerfully.

15. Choose your battles wisely. Some things are worth fighting to the death, and some things are not your problem.

16. Never work harder on someone else’s problems than they are willing to work on themselves.

17. Watch more funny movies, you tube videos and read more far side books. Life is too short to not spend at least 50% of it laughing! And if you’re husband is funny, that’s a bonus!

18. When life presents extraordinarily difficult circumstances – fight back with extraordinary gestures of courage and strength!

19. The quickest path to self-deception is when we ignore the still small voice.

20. It will never be about what you did, how much you made, how well you did in a career. It will always be about who you loved, how well you loved, and who loved you. Period.




2 comments:

  1. great list! i really appreciate so many of them, but i may have to say #19 is my very favorite. is a happy birthday in order?

    my recent post: I AM the Lord your Provider

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Charis! No birthday yet, just been pondering this year on some of my greatest life lessons. I'm half way to 70, that's crazy! :)

    ReplyDelete