Four Lessons I Learned this Year

Over the past twelve months, it feels like I'm on a roller coaster ride; a lot of ups and downs happened in my life. But, you know what's the best thing about this year? It's the lessons that I learned out from those experiences.

The year 2021 is an adjustment year after the pandemic started. It's the year where we got to adjust to the new normal in the first few months and get used to them for the rest of the year. Not to mention, I have experienced a lot of challenges this year, sometimes they make me feel down. But I also experienced a lot of great moments wherein I will surely smile once I reminisce them. I'd also love to note that I learned a lot of lessons this year.

Now, here are the four lessons that I get to learn this year:

Health Matters

This pandemic has taught me to prioritize my health more than anything: both physical and mental health. I also learned to double time on taking care of my health when I was involved in contact tracing since one of my co-workers got tested positive in Covid. That's the first time I got swabbed and quarantined for 14 days. It was not an easy process, a lot of things were going on in my mind at that time; good thing I was tested negative. From then on, I started taking care of myself more. I know I'm still not perfect at caring for myself, but I'm doing my best to do better at managing my health.

Self-love is the Key

I realized that I have been so abusive with myself this year. I focused on my work that much that I haven't thought of having fun for my mental health's sake. I encountered a lot of breakdowns, and my mind became chaotic. However, the moment I got to unwind, it's where I got to feel myself again. I finally got to iron out my thoughts. Since then, I started to give love for myself more and do the little things just like taking care of myself often, making sure that I'm having fun with everything that I do, and name a few. This year has taught me to prioritize myself, to make myself happy, to spoil myself sometimes, as it's not for the betterment of others, but for the betterment of myself alone.

Comparing is Not a Good Thing

During the first few months of this year, I have been to a situation wherein I keep on comparing myself to others. I have seen a lot of posts on social media that made me feel down as I'm far cry from the achievements that they have reached. I even feel inferior after thinking that I was out of place on the achievements that I have so far. However, with the constant goal I have to make myself better, I read a lot of books and even watched a lot of videos about uplifting oneself. I learned that every one of us has our book, and that book is unique. No two books have the same chapters. Having said that, I realized that we have our chapters. Good thing for others that they've reached the point of achievement in their lives, but on my part, it's yet to come. I have my season of reaching the peak of success. All I have to do today is to work on them and never give up. Above all, we should stop comparing ourselves and trust the process of our journey.

Face Your Fear

I have a lot of missed opportunities this year just because I was afraid to do them. Not to mention, I could recall that time when an opportunity knocked on my door, that's what I wanted to achieve this year. Although I would love to do it, the emotions that I had at that moment were indescribable, I was afraid I might not be successful in the field, until one day, I realized that I missed the opportunity already. At that moment, I regret a lot for not grabbing the opportunity in an instant, and I don't want that same thing to happen again. With that, I learned to face the fear that I have. I realized that doing something which you're not comfortable doing, or even doing something new feels a bit scary, but the best thing to do is to take that path even how scary it gets. I realized that I should still do something even how scared I get, as what I want to achieve is on the other side of that fear.

Every year, we go through a lot of experiences. Sometimes they make us happy, and sometimes they make us sad. Sometimes those experiences could bring out the best in us, and sometimes the worst in us as well. However, no matter how hard our lives went this year, we should bear in mind the lessons that we got out of our experiences. Those lessons that we learned today will help us grow into the person we wish to become. I know it's not an easy process as we go through a lot, but know that everything will be worth it in the end. All we have to do is have a heart that could understand every situation and a mind that's willing to continue the journey without the thought of giving up.

Lead Image Source: Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels