I am turning 27 this week and I believe I am making the most of each year. There is always something new to try; somewhere else to go; someone else to meet… AND I can proudly say: I am doing my best to accomplish all of this.
Today I am bringing 26 things I have learned in the past years that I really want to share with you. Let’s get started?
1. Stop comparing myself to others
When I arrived in Australia in 2017, I was looking for a job in Sydney and one day, a friend of a friend asked me :
– How is the job hunting going?
– Not very well. I have not got anything yet. – I said, a bit embarrassed
– Well, I sent CV’s everywhere and in 2 weeks time I got a position.
That information made me feel miserable and the worst professional in the world. When I shared my feeling with my friend, he looked at me and said:
– Stop comparing yourself Dani! You just arrived, you do not know the market and English is not your first language.
Everyone is different; every circumstance is different. Let’s stop comparing ourselves with others! 😀
2. Taking the decision to walk away from toxic people
This has been one of the most difficult things for me and also one that I am still improving everyday. It is hard to understand who is a good friend, who is a good boyfriend, who is a good partner…
It is hard to accept that some people are not a good influence for us although we really appreciate them.
3. Start living everyday as if it was the fist day of my life
This one is particularly hard. We all have problems and we all carry our problems with us (especially if they are big problems). Starting a new day overwhelmed with the problems from the previous day is killing your new day. Start fresh and forget whatever happened the day before. In your NEW day you have everything to changed what happened in the past.
4. Stop blaming my parents
One day I will share my beginning in Paris. One day. Honestly, my first years in Paris were one of the difficult periods of my life and also one of the periods that I felt the loneliest person in the world. My parents were not there for me as I wished but that did not stop me from achieving my goals and dreams. Once, I stop losing energy blaming my parents and I start taking responsibility for my actions: my life changed completely.
5. Start believing that everything I need is inside me
We do not need an expensive bag to look better; We do not need to have an amazing job to feel worth; W do not need a boyfriend to feel complete.
The only thing we need is inside US: strength and motivation to fight for our dreams.
6. Stop trying to solve others’ problems
I have many friends and family members that call me to share their problems (as I do with them). I have understood that no one apart from myself can solve my problems so: how could I solve someone else problems? Actually I cannot and I have learned that.
Today when a friend tells me: I hate my job! I need help to find a new one. I am the first one saying: Apply for a new one; do some networking, up skilled yourself. Go and look for it.
7. Sharing more
The worst thing in life is to have a lot and not have anyone to share whatever we have. When I was younger, I remember I hated sharing my toys/ barbies with my friends. In my adult life, things were/are not very different. Understanding the beauty of sharing with someone else is one of the most important and grateful things you can have in life.
8. Being proud of myself
I have learned that I am my worst enemy! I doubted myself too many times (I still do but maybe less often). Learning to be proud of myself and full of myself – PEOPLE, PLEASE: BE FULL OF YOURSELVES – helped a lot to achieve more.
9. Being more humble
This one is hard. Because we got be full of ourselves but never arrogant and disrespectful towards other. I have done a long road to understand humility (still working on it) but today I much more aware how important is to be humble and how many doors I have had opened since I reviewed my way of being.
10. Listening to my intuition
Traveling the world gave me one of the most powerful things: listen to myself and believing in my feelings and capacities. At the end of the day, we always know what we want and where yoeu want to go… We just need to listen to yourselves.
11. Being positive
Be positive no matter what. The more positive thoughts we have, the more positive things will come. I usually say good things call good things.
12. Facing my fears
Last time, I faced my fear I was driving a motorbike in Bali and I fell over. From that, I have a scare on my knee for life and a foot that is still recovering.
Face fear but do not be stupid like me. Haha
When I say face fear, I am actually talking about going against what our body/ mind asks. Getting out of our comfort zone.
13. Saying NO to people
It can be hard but sometimes we have to be selfish and think about us. Prioritizing what we want and learning to say NO to people is difficult but also fundamental.
14. Accepting that others’ opinions are just THAT: others’ opinions
People can kill our dreams without noticing it. Sometimes an unpleasant comment can put we away from chasing our dreams. And if you do not believe, listen to this: I created my 1st blog in 2011 (Check it HERE) and at the time, I did not get very positive feedback from my friends. Those comments stayed in my mind for long and only 5 years later, I was able to sit down again and re-create a blog. Do not forget: if we believe and work for it, we can do it.
15. Stop killing my morning routine with social media
In the past, my first activity in the morning would be to check my social media and emails. In the beginning of this year, I changed this habit completely. Today, before touching my phone I do a lot of other things: I have my shower, breakfast, I meditate, read, write… How could I live my life fully if I was waking up and getting inside others’ life? How could I focus on my life if I was more focus on getting to see what people around were doing hours before?
16. Understanding my anxiety moments
In the past years, I experienced anxiety more often due to the constant changes of my life. I believe I reached my highest levels of anxiety when I was in Australia looking for a job. I could not sleep more than an hour a day: always thinking, thinking and over thinking about things. Being able to give that a name ANXIETY has helped so much to address my problems.
17. Accepting failures
In 2015 I studied for the GMAT for 10 months and I failed the exam completely. That road of 10 months was so hard that almost led me to depression. That event drove me to take the decision to leave Paris and travel to South America for 8 months – One of the most exciting periods of my life and one of the things I am the most proud of. The down moments are the most difficult ones but also the ones that help us to grow the most.
18. Stop chasing for answers in my travels
Stop seeking for answers in places. When I decided to quit everything to travel, I was looking for a lot of answers in my life. I traveled for almost 1,5 years and none of the answers I sought were responded. Once again, I learned everything is inside me.
19. Treating people as I wish people would treat me
Everyone deserves a chance and everyone deserves to be treated equally. This sounds logic but do we actually do this? I believe very few of us. I am not going to lie and say that I am the perfect person in the world: I do judge people (more than I wish sometimes). But here what I learned, no matter how much money and influence people can have: treat everyone equally because maybe the homeless person around the corner will have something very special to teach you.
20. Being more emphatic
Most of the time I am so focus on myself that I almost forget others. Sometimes looking at others’ problems: putting ourselves in someone’s shoes can help us to understand better others and more than anything: be more grateful for everything we have in our lives.
21. Accepting my body
It took me years to accept my body. When I was young I thought I was not talk enough; Then, I thought my eyes were not special enough; Later, I was not fit enough… With age I think we start seeing things differently. At the end of the day, it is fine if we do not have 1,70m, we have other stuff.
22. Accepting that old friends are not necessary life friends
Man, this is hard to accept but the truth is: people change. If my interests changed so much in the past years why would not my friends change as well?
23. Recognizing the power of my thoughts
I am too poor to do it! I am too old to start a business! I am not good enough!…
I have erased from my life this kind of expressions. If we keep repeating that, at same point our brains will block on the information: I am poor. I am old. I am not enough.
I train my brain with positive thinking everyday. If you do not believe on the power of thinking listen to this: Last time, I thought I was too lucky and I did not deserve all the good things I had in life, I was in Ecuador. That night all my belonging got stolen from me during a bus journey. Coincidence?
24. Recognizing that energies can be very strong
I believe in energy and I also believe that everyone has different energies according to their state of mind and experiences. Negative energies can impact life a lot and if you do not believe me read: ow to heal your life; the law of attraction.
25. Following my dreams
Money is just money if you are not doing something we like. I have had several down periods where I could not really explain why I was so sad and negative. Everything changed when I decided to follow my dreams.
26. Loving myself
I learned how important it was loving myself only months ago. This Summer, I was talking to a friend and from the other side of the phone she said: Daniela, you need to start loving yourself. For your blog to grow but, especially for you… Only loving yourself will allow you to be a happier person. Believe me, deciding to love myself before anything else has completely changed my way of seeing life.
I just love this sentence and I keep repeating it to myself:
I am exactly where I need to be
And you, if you have to highlight things you have learned in life, what would you say?
Beijinho,
Daniela