Life Lessons

Life. What a gift. Life. What a rollercoaster. Life. Is it just me, or is life filled with a lot of lessons!?.

Some life lessons we’ll talk about today!

Life lessons can be enriching, hard, frustrating, rewarding, character building, and so much more. Before I share some life lessons that I, and I do believe many people have learned/experienced/will experience, I want to take the time to say… life’s lessons happen for a reason. We may not always know the reason at the time they happen, but in due time we can choose to learn and grow from each life’s lessons.

Okay. So, what life lessons are we talking about today? Many different ones! Ready? Here we go! Oh, and see if you can relate to any of the lessons learned… and if you want, comment or share a lesson or lessons you’ve learned with us! We’d LOVE to hear from you!

(Please note the order in which the lessons are listed are of no importance)

Life Lesson # 1)

Life isn’t always peaches and cream. I’d say life is more of continually making lemonade out of lemons. Meaning, we have trying moments and times in our daily lives that cause us to have to build our character, take leaps of faith, hold others accountable, and deal with situations that aren’t easy or comfortable. If life was peaches and cream we wouldn’t be growing in our character, morals, and so forth. So, the next time a lemon drops in on you, I hope some tasty lemonade will be made!

Life Lesson #2)

Accountability. I find this subject a really interesting one. It is amazing to me how many people like the idea of having accountability but when push comes to shove when held accountable they don’t like it. In my personal and professional life I’ve had to hold people and clients accountable. At first it was not easy, but with more experience with having to deal with difficult situations, it has become easier. Holding others (and ourselves) accountable can be hard. But I ask you, what is more important, the truth or a lie? I’ve found that truth is more important. That, my friends, is why I’ve taken a stand in both my professional and personal life in the area of accountability. I’ve grown enormously from doing this, and perhaps you have too! If you’ve not tried it yet, I know you can too if you’re willing to allow some truth to be brought to light.

Life Lesson # 3)

Liars never triumph. If there is one thing in the world that I despise, it is people lying to me. In life there are always going to people that will lie. To get what they want is the basis of why they lie, I’ve concluded. It is really quiet sad when we look at it from that perspective, because in life if we always got what we wanted we wouldn’t grow in character. Again, I can say that I’ve dealt with people lying to me both on a personal level and a professional level. On a personal level, some friendships have gotten stronger from lies by being held accountable and working through the situation, and some lies and trying to work through them have caused friendships to part. On a professional level, when having to deal with lies it gets a bit more complicated. Owning my own business means my business is a reflection of me. So, when I’ve had people lie straight to my face about things that I’ve been in a position to have to respond, I have to deal with these circumstances very cautiously. More often than not, in the few times I’ve had to deal with individuals about lying, I’ve not allowed the working relationship to continue, ending my service permanently. Being a business owner has taught me A LOT. Working and dealing with people is not always easy. Dealing with some people that have lied isn’t easy, as well, when they go behind your back and bash your name/business name because they are no longer welcome to receive my service. Sadly, the lies continue as they bash you… and you learn to not enter into their game… but rather let your life and your work speak for itself, letting the truth be revealed in light, not in darkness.

Life Lesson # 4)

The journey is the reward. Oh, how I LOVE that last sentence. I say it often in my blogs. And here I’ve said it again! When we each realize that the journey IS the reward, we view life completely different. It’s not about leaving a legacy, having the most money, having the most possessions, having the best this or that, or, going through the checklist of life (graduate, go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids) the fastest. What the journey is about is taking each moment of each day as an opportunity to enrich others and your own life in a way that is God honoring. In trying moments, it’s about seeing the beauty in the storm. In joyful moments, it’s about giving thanks. And in every moment, it’s about being thankful for the gift of life no matter what the moment entails. No, it isn’t always peaches and cream, but our perspective changes in the way(s) we look at things. I hope and pray that if not today, then someday, if you haven’t already, realize that “the journey is the reward”!

Life Lesson # 5)

Smile. Oh. My. Word. You can NOT tell me that giving someone one of your fantastic smiles can’t light up a person’s day! I’m a smiler, not because I have been told, “You have nice teeth. You have a great smile.” I smile because I LIKE to smile. I’ve truly found that smiling makes me happier, and it also makes other people happy too. I enjoy smiling at others while shopping or running errands. It’s a way of greeting people when I don’t choose to open up my mouth verbally. Smiling has actually scientifically been proven to improve people’s mood (you’ve probably heard that before…and it IS true). I have many stories of people saying, “You keep smiling. Never stop smiling. You’re smile made me smile.” These affirmations from people are words that the average person that you and I live life rubbing shoulders together with, say. This should help bring to light that we, the average person, like to be smiled at! There’s no strings attached in sharing a smile with someone. A smile is a gift for you to share, and both you and someone else get to enjoy. So, life lesson #5 hopefully teaches us to smile more!

Life Lesson # 6)

Life lesson # 6 is to stay true to yourself, to your beliefs, and to your morals. I won’t lie to you, this life lesson is a big lesson and a very important lesson. I truly wish that more people were taught this lesson from a young age so that they were able to better know who they are as individuals, would know what they believe, and could identify what their foundational pillars are before entering into the real world and relationships.

I’d like to break this life lesson down just a bit. Because this life lesson is such a big and important lesson, I want to share real life, my life experiences in this lesson, with you. I find it easier to relate with others via story, so hence why I’m sharing my stories with this lesson.

Stay true to yourself. When I was a kid I knew who I was and wasn’t going to change who I was to fit into the crowd. To others that was weird, even intimidating. To me, it was what it was and you weren’t going to change my mind. All these years later I’ve stayed true to myself and what my heart (note- not my head) is telling me, honoring myself and others with being me. I’m unique and so are you. The greatest gift you can bring to this world is your own unique and authentic self.

Your beliefs. My faith is unwavering. Sure, I continue to learn about my Papa God and continue to live in relationship with him, but the basis of my faith is between him and me. Knowing why we believe (or don’t believe) what we do is important. No, I’m not going to talk about what I believe about heaven and hell, but what I am going to say is this… your belief is something that you should be sure of, something that you will stand behind that is unwavering. You should be enriched and feel nourished by your beliefs. Our beliefs are one of the four foundational pillars to our human tables (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual legs). Without this spiritual aspect, our table won’t be horizontally balanced… so out of respect, first to yourself then others, dig deep and find out why you believe what you believe.

Your morals. Your morals are what you believe for yourself to be right and wrong. Your morals make you YOU. Your morals help you make decisions each and everyday. And, the same goes for me and my morals. Morals can be foundational pillars, and I can say for me, they are. I know what is right vs. wrong because of my morals. I know what I will choose because of my morals. My morals have been deemed “high” morals by some people that don’t really know me personally. It’s actually these same people that have deemed my morals “as high” that when asked what their morals are, they “don’t really know.”

In my life I’m SO very thankful for my morals. They work as a compass. Some were taught by my parents and then I choose if I liked those morals or not. Other morals were learned from life experiences. All in all, I know my morals and am not willing to sway in the wind with them. I know what I need to do for myself, in turn staying honest and true to myself in doing so and in relationship with my Papa God. Knowing our morals is so important.

I encourage anyone and everyone to start looking and reflecting on their morals as kids, and knowing what your morals are by the time your a teenager and young adult. This can help individuals to make better decisions and think more before making any decisions. Oh, and not to mention, that ALL of these three bold highlighted sections are important when in relationship with another person. They help to find out if the relationship is worth pursuing or not 😉

Well, that’s a LOT of information for six life lessons. I surely hope this has been thought provoking, enriching, and, may have helped you look at things from a different perspective. Life is a gift and full of many lessons, but these were just a few that I wanted to share with you today. May you be blessed by this and if you feel led to, share with someone (a young person, your significant other, or friend) that may be blessed by reading this blog too!

Oh, and before we part ways we’d like to remind you, if you related to any of the lessons shared today and want to share your thoughts, stories of experiences, we’d LOVE to hear from you!

Have a beautiful day and hear from you soon!