Top 8 Revelations From 2022: The Toughest Year of My Life
But also the most productive and life-changing.
We’re 11 days into 2023 — I’ve already set my goals for this year and started trying out the new goal achievement system, but 2022 doesn’t let me go just yet.
This year was probably the most heart-breaking year of my entire life, but, as it often happens, it brought so many revelations and mentality shifts that I can’t help but share them here with you.
Keep reading to find 8 things that last year taught me — and which I’ll definitely make use of in the years to come:
#1. Sometimes when you least expect it, the worst times can come, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Be it the virus, the war, the death of a loved one, or the choice of a loved one you can’t find peace with — you gotta do whatever you can to help yourself stay afloat and not drown in the ocean of pain.
It’s gonna try to suffocate you, but you gotta keep it up, try as hard as you can and keep on living.
#2. Even in the hardest times, keep on living.
Others are gonna make you feel powerless, guilty, and undeserving, for your brave attempts to get your life together and not dedicate it to endless suffering about what can’t be changed.
Your life goes on, well, because there’s only one you. Keeping on living doesn’t mean forgetting or disrespecting what happened or what you’ve gone through. It means respecting yourself and your right to live well enough to try and built it up piece by piece.
#3. People are key to everything.
Especially in your professional endeavors. Networking doesn’t mean using people blindly to get beyond everyone else fast enough and use those people as fuel. It means connecting to those individuals that vibe with you, that can teach you something, that can challenge you to become better.
Connecting opens doors, and sometimes in the most unexpected ways. Be curious, meet people, and be genuinely interested in them.
People are stories, just like you are. Imagine how much you can learn from someone sharing their path with you — ain’t that inspiring?
#4. Look at others, get inspired, and apply their techniques and strategies to your own path, but stay true to yourself.
Filter out everything that doesn’t work for you or doesn’t feel right. It’s okay to try something and prove it didn’t work. It only means you have to look at your problem from another angle or try a different approach.
It will work with time — be persistent enough. Those who get the lives they want aren’t always the most talented, but the most persistent.
#5. Being systematic and disciplined is the best you can do for yourself.
Especially if you’re a creative person.
Living in this dreamy creative chaos is beautiful and heavily romanticized, yet doesn’t have anything to do with the real world if you want to get somewhere in life.
Read books, study other people’s habits and daily structures, set clear goals, break them down into sub-goals, and track your daily, weekly, and monthly performance, and I guarantee — you’ll be surprised.
#6. Getting used to good things is harder than getting used to bad stuff.
Sounds illogical, but it’s true. Getting used to a better, more comfortable and quality life means changing your mentality and daily habits, and that takes effort.
We are not wired to actually like the effort, we are hardwired to escape it as hard as we can. Our brains naturally avoid challenges or anything new.
But the harsh truth is — if you really want a better life, it’s gonna be painful at first because you will be rewriting everything else that’s been engraved deep into your brain about what you should and shouldn’t do.
Good news: it will definitely get easier.
#7. Allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling in the moment.
Your emotions are valid, and the best way to help yourself live through all the feelings is to allow them to take over for a while.
Be sad, angry, frustrated, scared, numb, devastated, whatever it is — just don’t suppress it. Or it will backfire right at you at the worst possible moment.
Live through every feeling you have, and move on when you feel like it’s time.
#8. Finally, let yourself dream big.
It’s immensely hard to get rid of all the obstacles our minds are feeding us with: you can’t fly this high, you’re not talented enough, this goal is too big for you, bla-bla.
The thing is, psychology and neuroscience proved it many times: you are as capable as you think you are.
Your thoughts define you. Your perception of your capabilities defines you.
How high you can fly only depends on whether you allow yourself to dream of it.
As soon as you let yourself go and acknowledge everything that you want in life, your brain will start thinking in the direction of the realization of those dreams.
So allow yourself to dream big.
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I’m making my blog here on Medium alive again! One of my new 2023 goals is to post here consistently — so every Wednesday and Saturday of every week (no kidding this time) a new article will be out!
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— Ana
