Taking My 6 Lessons Learned at 23 To Go

New Age Growth...

Photo by Mitchell Hollander

Reflecting on my past year of life is therapy. Searching for meaning in the form of insight grounds me wholeheartedly. 

Here are a couple of my favorite lessons from this year:

1. You are only as good as your mindset: 

Mindfulness means you look out for your every thought. You make space between you and thoughts, and examine your thoughts from a place of awareness. The distant observation allows you to better understand why these thoughts came by and smartly choose your response. 

This year I abandoned the habit of reacting immediately to a wild-run thoughts. I choose to be mindful instead. I live for the satisfaction of taking a second to decide if I want to react at all. There is no time wasted like time given to reacting to insignificant events. This year, I raise my standards and my mental energy. As I watch the negativity come, I happily let them go. 

With my ever-green passion to improving my mindfulness, I'm much more present in life. Mindfulness is a daily effort and very worth saving some grief from my amygdala, the brain region regulating stress.

2. You can learn a lot from others: 

Books are my ride-or-die source for imagination and visualization. They're my favorite way to learn from others in a condensed format and read a good story. This year I gravitated to self-development books.

Currently I'm going to delve into these titles loaded on my iPad: 

• Meditation & Mindfulness by Andy P. 
• O's Little Book of Happiness by Oprah W. 
• The Gift of Fear by Gavin D.B. 
• Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark M. 
• The Latte Factor by David B. 
• Essentialism by Greg M. 
• The Untethered Soul by Michael S. 
• Declutter Your Mind by S.J. Scott and Barrie D. 

These books center around the brilliant topics of: mindfulness, happily having less, clearing the mind, managing finances, and understanding yourself better. 

I gotta go, my excitement is calling.

3. You are stronger than you think: 

July was the month I joined LA Fitness, finally! Prior to the start of a journey to being an independent lady, I was comfortably exercising at a small limited gym provided by the place I live at. For 3 years, I was around a handful of people during workouts. 

Boy, it was a fun new experience stepping into a commercial gym. The first few days were filled with thoughts of self consciousness. With a little encouragement and at least two week's time, I concluded I didn't need to be self conscious. The feeling didn't take long to fall off. Everyone was clearly focused on themselves and their fitness goals. If I didn't care that much about what others were doing, they would return the same feeling. 

Humans are surprisingly great at adapting to their environment, and that's important to remember when trying anything new — you will adapt. The new becomes comfortable with time, and you become confident and improved.

4. You are capable of building lasting habits: 

Motivation comes and goes like your feelings. If you want to build a long-lasting habit, you shouldn't rely on motivation to get you going. You need determination, work ethic, and a proper mindset/intention. 

To build a habit, identify your goals, write down what you will achieve, and take action regularly/daily toward these goals. Practice determination, hard work, and keeping your goals in mind. Routine and consistency is necessary to establish an automatic effort because the tasks have laid a strong foundation in your mind. 

5. Your awareness of the present is part of your growth: 

Since becoming a college graduate, I continue to question how I'm progressing as an individual and in my skills. Self-awareness has been a very present aspect this year. Knowing my good and my faults is a right of passage to becoming a formed adult, because true awareness of myself paves a path to improvement. 

6.  Have faith and trust in the process: 

In addition to having a more mindful approach to life, I've been repeating this positive affirmation ("Have faith and trust that things will work out"). I believe it more every time. 

Every life and job experience is something learned. Every step is valuable in your journey to your end goal. Though there is still plenty of uncertainty in this life, I try to choose to be a positive guiding light. There are many reasons to trust yourself; consider everything you've already become and succeeded in at this point. The more I accomplish, seek and see, the more I trust. Time makes everything make sense, so that must mean everything will be okay.