@sc 21 December 2021

Life lessons I learned Life lessons I learned I was trying to write and publish an article yesterday but it looks like, it was one of those days when I couldn’t think of anything to write once again. There are topics that I started writing about, but I have to stop in the middle while writing because I couldn’t think of anything to continue and go on with the topic. So today, I will just free write about the life lessons I learned so far. **We all have different clocks.** I am not pertaining to a literal clock, but a life clock. Most probably that it is not just me who feels hopeless at times. When most of the people my age, when most of my friends are already certain about what they want in life, building families, having kids, having a stable job, here I am still uncertain of what the future holds for me. What I really want to do is still vague. Sometimes, I can’t help but to compare myself to others, thinking that I am already too late. But that was before I learned that life is not actually a race in which I have to compete with others. It is me against myself. And I don’t have to compare my life with other people because I have my own timeline. What’s important is that I am doing better than I was previously. What’s important is that I am not stuck and stagnant. I am taking small steps, but small steps are still steps that will surely take me to my destination, though it is still unknown. **Real friendship doesn’t need daily conversation.** When I was younger, I try so hard so as not to offend my friends. I only have a few friends back then and I can’t bear to lose one because I am not that friendly before. When we got phones, we would make sure to text each other every day to maintain our friendship. But it came to a point when we got different goals and we have different activities and we couldn’t talk to each other anymore. It really hurts when I couldn’t talk to my friends. But as I grow older, I became more mature and realized that we don’t need to talk to each other every day, update each other on what is happening to our lives and chat or text each other every day to continue being friends. We now have different priorities. We have to deal with adulting and prioritize the more important things in life. A day or week or even month of not talking doesn’t make our friendship any less as long as we always have our friends in our hearts. It is not good to think that someone is ignoring you just because they are unable to reply even though they’ve read your message. Probably, they are dealing with problems and don’t want to talk yet or maybe they don’t have the energy to reply. We should understand those friends. Yielding and forgiving the person who hurt you doesn't mean you're weak When I was young, I don't easily forgive the people who hurt me. I could not forgive those who disreapected me because I don't want them to think that I am weak and I'm afraid they'll do the same thing to me again. But I learned that when I don't forgive, I am hurting myself more. It doeasn't feel good when you are holding a grudge against someone. But when you learn to forgive, you'll be happier. It feels like a heavy baggage has been lifted off your chest.