Lessons I Learned in Life That I Regretted in My 30s but Working on It During My 40s

It may be late — but it is not too late.

If you hear sound advice, you usually shut it off if it does not resonate with you.

But when you experience it later, the lesson you have known but failed to execute sticks with you.

That is why learning is costly most of the time. We need to experience things first to realize knowledge and its form.

I understand that all things work together for good. Things could have been better if I got mindful of the lesson early on.

Treat villains as lifelong supplements

I used to be onion-skinned when I was a kid. And I think my youngest is inheriting it — I hope not permanent.

While growing up, I wanted to feel affirmed. Handling criticisms was hard for me to accept.

People who treated me like dirt affected me. It turned me into a jailed and depressed human being.

Later I learned how to treat these impurities as vitamins. Not to be bitter but to become better by proving to myself that they are wrong.

In the absence of enemies, there would be no heroes to recognize.

The truth is, that we need villains to succeed in life.

Never again be fooled.

I had a friend who refrains from using social media.

Today his account is active — tomorrow, it will be gone. He said he feels envy when he sees a circle of friends flexing their successes.

Nice car, big house, luxurious vacations — and other stuff flaunting the good stuff.

What he does not know, people (are) covered by insecurities. And pretending life is okay has been a practice of many.

They would pose a fake life to get the validation they wanted. But deep inside, there is loneliness within that rotten heart

Exposing the nude to the public is liberating.

Hold on — do not skim. Read it first.

I am not telling you to remove your clothes and show them to the world. What I mean is it is so hard to wear a different mask every day.

The more you immerse yourself in this scheme, the more friction you will feel.

In my past life, I would wear a different one in the office, another with friends, a different version with family, and unmask the real version when I am all by myself.

And this is why I wear up and struggle. There are many characters that we play when surrounded by a different environment.

I have learned to be the same man — wherever I am.

It made me happier.

There is no need to wear different masks regardless of the crowd or occasion. If you begin to unmask yourself and show the same version to the world — things are much easier to handle.

Life becomes better

Saying no means a yes

It is hard to say no to people.

You make them feel rejected. And you think — saying no would eventually hurt them.

But the truth is you are gradually hurting yourself. The more you say yes to others, the more you say no to yourself.

When you get accustomed to entertaining others — your subsequent yesses appear meaningless.

• Yes, I can attend more useless meetings.
• Yes, I can spend more time with people that do not mean to me
• Yes, to invitations compromising your time with the family.

Take back those yeses, and life would be more fruitful.

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