Things That I've Learned In The Past 23 Years

I have been a huge fan of reading inspirational articles like, "Places You Should Visit Before You Die" or "Top 10 Restaurants You Should Try When You Go To London", stuff like that. It makes me want to write that kind of post to share in my blog, however because I haven't been to so many places around the world, I obviously can't create a "Places You Should Visit Before You Die" list. So, I decided to create a list of "Things That I've Learned in The Past 23 Years". It's from my personal opinion, experiences, and mostly advices from my parents and friends. I am creating this list for myself, so that when I have problems in the future, I could look back at this post and be happy.



1. Stop caring about what people say about you. This is probably one of the best advices my mom has ever told me. Other people's opinion is not going to affect you in any way. When you stop caring about what people think or say about you, you can spend more time to feel happy. Don't make assumptions about what other people are thinking about you. However, if let's say, your bestfriend or your mom give you a negative reaction towards your doing, then pay attention, maybe you do, should try to adjust your behaviour.

2. Take risks. Really, take risks in life. One year ago, a friend asked me to join her be a fashion stylist for a movie production. I have worked as a fashion stylist in a magazine before, but never in a production house. However, I said yes without hesitation, because I thought it would be really fun to do. I worked for about 6-7 months until the movie production's finished. Although I got sick a lot of times and I don't think I have the strength to do it again in the future, sometimes taking risks like this comes with great rewards. I made a lot of new friends, now I know how to work as a wardrobe team in a movie, have new connections, etc. It can even help me be more confidence in the future.

3. Good and bad things just happen. I know some people; might be you, your family, me, your boyfriend, etc went through some phase where it just felt like everything's going to fall apart or everything felt so good you wanna explode. The thing is, they just happen -- they will happen anytime, and when they do, you are the one who must decide on how to handle them. The actions and responses you give toward the good or bad things will teach you lessons. If good things happen, be grateful and enjoy it. If bad things happen, try to overcome the stress and make it better. Life is not good or bad, it just is.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others. When we compare ourselves to others, we often end up judging ourselves. This what makes us less happy. Your best friend is awesome and you are awesome too! Your brother is amazing, and so are you! The only person we should try to be better than, is the person we were yesterday.

5. Pick good friends and be a good friend. We should be good with anyone, however choosing who our friends are is incredibly important. Your friends are the people who help you define who we are, they are just like a family. So pick good friends that you know will always be there for you, and vice versa! Thankfully I have one best friend, named Dhea, and we've been good friends for almost 9 years. She's just like a sister to me. I hope she feels the same way too!

6. Learn to apologize. Also forgive and forget. Problems blow out of proportion and relationships break because of someone having too much pride to say, "I'm sorry." This is of course easier said than done, but we should really learn to apologize. Everyone makes mistakes, even your parents! Apologizing helps me accept responsibility for wrong things I've done and provide a tool for me to make things right again. We should also be forgiving when people make mistakes. 

7. Don't overthink things. Never, ever overthink things. I still have this bad habit sometimes -- this affect a lot of things in my life: Stress keeps coming back, my sleeping hours are ruined -- and I regret it so much. If we have problems, we should give ourselves time to think about the solution and make decisions, but also give ourselves time limit. Don't dwell too long inside it, realize that we can't control everything. Re-read point #3.

8. Be happy -- love yourself and others. How to be happy? I learned that by simply doing all of the things above made me a happier person. Also, don't forget to love yourself and others.

xo,
Shida