41 Lessons

.. another lap around the Sun ☀️

We all process birthdays differently.

And the years we struggle with the most are when our lives feel off-track from where we expect them to be.

I feel you.

One year, I struggled with this notion and decided to write about it. I recently found this list of lessons in one of my journals 📓 written the year I turned 38…

And with today being my birthday, I thought it’d be fun to share this list of 41 lessons with you. [share one if you got one in the comments].

Talk soon - Steven 🦬

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📝 41

1. Don’t eat yellow snow

2. Strive for perfect execution over perfect output

3. Not everything has to be a struggle

4. There are no trophies for suffering

5. Floss, it does make a difference

6. You’ll often seek in others that which you are “missing” in yourself (you think you’re missing it, you just haven’t found it yet)

7. You came in alone; you’ll leave alone; why not love the only thing you’ll ever own

8. If you don’t like yourself, it’s going to be hard to expect others to

9. There are fine lines between compassion, pity, and disdain

10. Your bad day does not permit you to enforce it (don’t be an asshole)

11. It’s true what they say about saving your Health

12. When forgiving others, remember to forgive yourself

13. You can love someone and not allow a relationship with them

14. Just because you don’t want to be with someone does not mean you don’t love them and/or do not like them (you can Not like someone and it does not mean you dislike them)

15. If you’re still breathing, that means it worked out; it varies in time as to when you’ll realize the lesson

16. Numb is an underrated kind of pain

17. Medication does not always come in pill form

18. Memories are malleable

19. Forgiveness does not mean you support or defend; it means accepting it happened.

20. Life is novel; death is routine

21. Information is the only currency

22. Your relationships represent your core values

23. Make your bed; it is the least you can do

24. Gratitude is not a word but an Act, and the same with apologies

25. Do not be lazy with words; speaking creates your world (Pen > Sword)

26. Teasing - there is a fine line between loving/passive, hidden, and accepted abuse

27. Things do get better

28. Making someone laugh is like showing them a wrinkle in the matrix

29. We all share sadness, we all share hope

30. Delaying financial-related matters is like cutting yourself

31. Know the difference between running from versus running towards

32. If you don’t know what you want to do or who you want to be, start by getting rid of what you don’t want and see what is left

33. Not everything can be thought through; you must do something with your conclusions

34. There is no script, only what you thought was a script

35. Real growth is being mindful of and accepting others where they are on their journey

36. Disease can spread to identity

37. Everything that you need is inside you; you gotta find it (see number 6.)

38. Ending v Beginning: both a matter of choice

39. You can look for meaning, or you can make it

40. Much of what the world argues about is over their subjective definition of labels

41. Understand the Narratives that run your life, and find a way to drop or re-make your own

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